Suicide Squad: A Grave Undertaking
by ordinaryguy2
Summary: Set in the 90's in the comics. Thanks to a warning from the soon-to-be future, Amanda Waller rallies the Suicide Squad to take down a sudden infestation of vampires at Arkham Asylum and Blackgate Penitentiary. Her main problem… The vampires have taken over her base of operation at Belle Reve, too, and cut her off from her main team. What is she to do? Improvise, of course. X-overs.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

 **A Grave Undertaking**

 **By Ordinaryguy2**

 **Chapter 1**

 **NEVER NEVER LAND, NEVADA**

Amanda Waller, a heavyset black woman with a scowling demeanor, exited the helicopter, keeping herself braced as she hurried through the deluge to get to the shelter of the building entrance while holding a briefcase over her head. She plunged through the doorway being held open by a military guard and immediately shed her water-soaked coat and gave her briefcase a brisk shaking. She only took the briefest notice as her companion from the helicopter followed her in, cursing lightly under his breath.

"Which way?" she said more as a demand than a question.

"This way, Mrs. Waller." A tall, well-built black man in a uniform stood down the hall. Despite her grumpy demeanor she gave him a second look over.

"Captain Craig Donovan," she said as way of acknowledgement along with a slight, calculated nod.

The man stiffened, surprised at being recognized. "You know me?"

Her eyes weighed his value. "A former Navy SEAL, currently Project Backstep's military advisor and tactical coordinator."

Donovan managed to keep the amazement -that she had managed to get all that information about him- off his face. "You have good ears."

"I do. Now take me to Dr. Bradley Talmadge," her words, both blunt and final.

"Right. This way. He's in the infirmary." He turned and began walking, letting Waller and her companion to catch up and follow behind while he listened to the sound of their footsteps on the linoleum as they worked to catch up with him.

"Talmadge was injured?"

"No. Someone else."

"Frank Parker?"

Donovan's head snapped back to look at her, but said nothing. Nothing more was said between them as they walked down the hall and took the elevator down to the infirmary, though Waller's companion did hum a close rendition to Jimmy Hendrix's Purple Haze while sporting a wild grin.

Donovan nodded to the security detail in front of the Infirmary entrance who opened the door for them so that they could go right inside. It was a spacious room with most of the outer areas having sliding glass doors to private rooms for other patients. There was only one room currently in use, as it had its curtains drawn over the door, and that's directly where Donovan led them.

Donovan entered with a knock, pulling the curtain open just long enough for Waller and the man that had accompanied her to enter.

"Ah, Bradley, there you are." Amanda Waller held out her hand to shake.

Bradley Talmadge stood to greet her. "Amada, I see you wasted no time in getting down here. Though I'm not sure that it will do you much good. Parker's been in a coma ever since we rescued him."

The man in the hospital bed was hooked up to several machines and receiving several bags of fluids, including blood. Bandages adorned the majority of his face, but did not hide the swelling and bruising. While his left arm had a simple splint, his right arm was being kept immobilized in a cast. His legs were likewise in casts. It was his hands, heavily bruised, covered in stitches and bandages, that showed the man had gotten at least some payback on someone.

Amanda's brow furrowed darkly as she frowned. "He looks like a side of beef that Rocky used for boxing practice. What happened to him? This doesn't look like the results of a crash landing so I'm guessing it didn't happen during his ' _backstep_ ' in time."

Now it was Talmadge's turn to frown. "How do you know about that?"

She gave a knowing look. "That you have an alien time machine you call a Chronosphere that can send someone back in time up to seven days in order to change a disastrous event in the past? Oh, please, it's my business to know about things like that. Now tell me what happened to Parker."

Talmadge nodded to Donovan to share what he knew. Begrudgingly, Donovan began his explanation. "At nearly 2100 hours two days ago, Parker called this base from a small town in Utah. Parker immediately gave the clearance codes and explained that he was under siege from a radical Mormon group that seemed to think he was the vanguard of a government military group being sent to overpower them due to some of their more radial actions such as attacking strangers that come near their towns and taking multiple child brides, not to mention the growing number of mysterious deaths that were occurring in and around their towns with the numbers escalating, all of which were only affecting non-members of their cult."

"Yes, yes, I knew all that. Out of state police and National Guardsmen were sent in to capture and contain those who partook in such activities, including the towns' cult-members-only-police force," she said, waving her hand dismissively. "What I'd like to know is if Parker has regained consciousness at all after that incident, and whether he has said anything else?"

"No, Frank's been in a coma ever since we rescued him," Donovan answered, looking down at his friend. "But what hasn't been explained is how Frank knew to send a coded message back to you, Mrs. Waller."

She snorted. "Isn't it obvious? I take it you have surmised by now that I already knew about the Backstep Project. Knowing that I might make use of it someday, I made up my own confirmation codes that only I knew so that I would know to trust any message that Parker brought back for me."

Talmadge pulled out a small cloth to wipe his glasses with. "We were only able to record a partial message from Frank in which he said it was imperative that we get a coded message to you. It took two days to get someone that was in contact with you to believe us, but there you have it. Were you able to do a partial translation of the message we sent you?"

Waller stood there for a moment. "The code words allude to a global threat, I just don't know what or where, just possibilities." She let down her briefcase down near a chair.

"Possibilities?" Talmadge found himself asking.

"There is always some threat to the world," she stated with a glare. "Did you really think that yours was the only organization watching over the planet?" She gave him a sneer of disdain. "The code mostly was to verify that I could trust whatever Parker told me the oncoming crisis was."

Amanda's companion chuckled. "You know as fun as it is to watch you two try to raise each other's hackles, if there really is a world threat to prepare for, we should really consider that for a first priority."

Talmadge took a moment to study the graying-dark haired man with the British accent. He seemed relatively normal except for an undercurrent of darkish mirth in his eyes, and just a hint of a grin that said seemed to proclaim he was having a joke at everyone else's expense.

Talmadge held out his hand. "Dr. Bradley Talmadge, director of this NSA facility," he stated for an introduction, hoping to learn more of whom he was dealing with.

The man chuckled, leaving Talmadge's hand waiting for a few seconds before shaking it. "Ethan Rayne, occultist, and a bit of an anarchist, but usually only if I find it amusing."

"What?" Donovan blurted out in confusion, not expecting any of that for a response.

"Easy, Donovan." Waller eyed Ethan critically. "You can get him talking, right?" She nodded toward Frank Parker lying on the bed.

Ethan nodded. "Sure, if he hasn't passed on. Well, actually I could then, too, but there are other complications that I'd rather not deal with when trying to bring a soul back." He gave her a shrug. "Can't say for sure what state his mentality will be in since he was beaten nearly to death, but let's find out, shall we?" From the pocket of one of the bags he had brought, he pulled out a small leather pouch and chicken foot. He spat twice into the pouch, then using the stump of the chicken foot he began to stir his spit into the powders within the pouch.

Donovan moved between Ethan and the bed that Frank Parker was laying. "There's no way that I am letting you near Frank with whatever that is!"

"What is going on here?" A tall redheaded woman in a white physician's coat returned from the bathroom where she had emptied the urine that she had taken from Parker's catheter bag. "Who are these people?" she asked in a thick Russian accent.

"Dr. Olga Vukavitch, it's nice to meet you. I've read some of your work. Looks promising." Amanda Waller said calmly. "But now that the niceties are out of the way." From out of a pocket she drew up a handgun. "I'm going to need to have the three of you move over by that wall. Ethan, remove Donovan's weapon."

Donovan could tell instantly that the woman knew how to use the weapon she was holding. Her cold eyes also told him that she had no problems using the gun if she thought she had to. Seeing no way out, he reluctantly let the madly grinning Ethan take his weapon, then joined Bradley and Olga against the far wall.

"What do you think you are doing?" Talmadge said, trying to understand. "You are inside a NSA secured facility. There's no way you could get away with whatever it is you think you are doing."

Amanda looked at him smugly. "All I'm doing is allowing Mr. Rayne a chance to make it possible to talk to Mr. Parker."

Ethan, meanwhile, was quickly using his chicken foot to draw runes on Frank's face and chest, removing whatever sensors or bandages hindered his design. "Alright, luv, I'm just about done. Can you dim the lights?"

"I told you not to call me that," Amanda growled, even as she dimmed the room lights.

He was setting up four lit green candles on the floor at the sides of the bed, when he looked up at her a cheeky grin. "You could always fire me."

She, in return, gave him a glare. "True, but I don't think you'd like the way that I fire people."

He swallowed in apprehension before turning away, effectively cowed for now. "Okay then. Just a little chant to find the frequency and we should be talking to our comatose subject." He dramatically stretched and cracked his fingers before starting to chant in an unknown tongue.

Donovan delivered an angry look to his boss. "Bradley!" he whispered so that only Bradley and Olga could hear. "What the hell is this? Do they actually think they can talk to Frank this way?"

Amanda, however, had very keen ears. "I'm surprised at you, Captain Donovan. You are willing to believe in aliens and time travel, but you completely dismiss the possibilities of magic."

Olga sent an uneasy look over to where Frank Parker lay. "I have seen several things that I have never been able to explain. Things that some colleagues were working on in the Soviet Union. Things unnatural." She shivered.

"But magic?" Donovan shook his head, unable to accept it.

Ethan chuckled. "They say the proof in in the pudding, right? Well, here we go!" He threw a green powder into the air about Frank's bed at the same time that the candles all flared up. Instead of settling down, the powder slowly pulled together a few feet above the bed outlining the shape of a man in a greenish aura that resonated with the flames of the candles.

"What the hell? What's going on here?"

"Frank?!"

"Olga? Donovan? Bradley? Am I floating?" The floating man's feet began tapping around for any surface to take purchase on while his arms flew around trying to grab anything it could, which turned out to be nothing.

"Ev-everything's going to be alright," Olga said, unable to take her eyes away from what she was seeing even as they started to water.

"Did I have a bad backstep or something?" Frank stopped moving his arms and legs as it didn't seem to be accomplishing anything. After taking a moment to calm himself, he brought his hand in front of his face. "What the hell? I can see through me hand!"

"Calm him down. This will work a lot better if you can calm him down," Ethan whispered over to Frank's friends.

"Who's that below me in the bed? He looks like he was hit by a bus." Frank suddenly jerked up a foot into the air. "That's me, isn't it?" he shouted. "What the hell happened to me?"

"Oh, great," Ethan snidely muttered, "he's going to freak on us. I'll probably lose him if he doesn't calm down. That's a hint to you people."

"Easy, Frank! Take it easy!" Donovan moved forward but stopped in order to stay clear of the weird smoke from the candles. "You are alive and we've patched you up! Everything is going to be alright!"

"That's easy for you to say!" Frank snapped back. "Look at me down there! What the hell happened to me?"

"That's what we need you to tell us," Amanda said, calmly, but with an authoritative tone. She had put the handgun back into her pocket as it was no longer needed now.

"And who the hell are you?" Frank growled.

"Amanda Waller."

Frank stilled for a moment. "Wait, I know that name."

"I hope so. You had a message to give me. One that was sent by me."

"Right." He nodded and tilted his head to one side as if remembering something long ago. "I was trying to get to somewhere with a phone so I could tell you. Ran across some young teenage girls trying to escape from being forced to marry guys old enough to be their grandfathers. I let them tag along as I went to get to a phone, then I was going to get them out of there. But a mob of the polygamous clergymen found us and set about trying to bash me into butter."

"The message?" Amanda insisted.

Frank, however, turned to Talmadge, ignoring Waller. "Bradley, are the girls alright?"

Talmadge nodded. "Yes, they and several of their sisters and cousins ended up being rescued and put into a children's rescue program."

"Which won't do them any good if there is no world to get better in!" Amanda barked. "Now, the whole reason you went on that backstep was because you needed to give me a message in order to stop a world scale disaster. Two days have already gone by, and I don't even know what the deadline I'm working with is, or anything else about this threat. Is it a plague? Is it nukes? Another Kahndaq revolution? An ecological disaster or terrorists? Another alien invasion? Please, just give me the intel that I need already!"

"Oh." Frank gave a look of surprise. "Um, I hope you believe me when I say it's vampires."

Waller continued to scowl at him. "Vampires?"

"An invasion of them."

Craig Donovan gave a slight chuckle. "Not the time for humor, Frank."

"I'm not joking, Donovan," Frank said in all seriousness.

"Vampires do not exist!" insisted Donovan, the whole situation eating on the last of his nerves.

It was Olga that calmed him with a gentle hand on his shoulder. "They do exist," she said, quietly. "In Russia, I saw one that was captured. Experiments were conducted on it in the building that I worked in. On the fourth day, or night actually, I was away presenting my findings on a different project. That night, it is believed that the clan or pack that the vampire belonged to, tracked him to the building." She trembled before taking a deep breath and continuing. "All records were lost, and security cameras were not able to reveal much since vampires didn't show up on them. Everyone was dead and the building burnt to the ground."

"I heard about that. Up in the Ural Mountains." Ethan regarded her with a rare look of sympathy. "The leader of that particular group was a very old vampire master by the name of Kakistos. Nasty bastard. If it helps at all, he was dusted a few years ago by two Slayers."

"Slayers?" Talmadge said, catching the unknown term in his mind.

"Not something to discuss right now," snapped Waller. She turned her focus back to smoky form of Frank Parker. "These invading vampires: where do they first attack? Where is their home base? Who is their leader? What is their purpose? And why now?"

"Uh..." The astral image of Frank Parker seemed to fidget in the air. "I wasn't given a whole lot of info from the future-you to pass on to the now-you. You had no clue about who the leader or leaders are. Or even where they came from. But as for where it began, it was in a little piece of hell called Arkham Asylum."

Waller cursed. "That damn bat! I had a series of high explosives set to blow that hell hole to high heaven if things got too bad there! The sanctimonious Dark Knight exposed those protective measures and made sure they were removed, as well as those I had implanted at several other meta-human incarceration centers!"

Talmadge couldn't believe what he was hearing. Not even the Never Never Land security chief, Agent Nathan Ramsey, was so heavy-handed in his somewhat radical stances. "You would really be willing to blow up hundreds of people just to make sure they didn't escape? Including the people who worked there?"

She glared at the man. "These people we are talking about are psychopaths and sociopaths, twisted mass murderers, many of which like to dress up in God-awful costumes to fulfill unusual homicidal fetishes. And worst of all, several of them are meta-humans or know how to get access to exotic and extremely dangerous weaponry that they have squirrelled away in secret caches."

"But still-"

"I don't have time for a talk about how I should be nice to homicidal maniacs of the worst sort! As of nearly two days ago, an impenetrable black sphere formed over Arkham Asylum that cut off all communications from within. No one has been able to find a means to enter it and find out what's been going on in there. A day later, a similar sphere appeared over Blackgate Penitentiary, which is just outside Gotham."

"I'll tell you what's going on!" Frank shouted from where he floated above his broken body. "Vampires are turning all your Arkham kooks into vampires, then Blackgate was used as an appetizer, and in a week they will be letting them out on the rest of the world!"

"But still, one asylum?" Donovan said with a doubting tone. "Even if what you say is true, it should be easy enough to put this threat down. One asylum, even if infested with vampires, which I still find hard to believe, can't be that much of a threat. Also Blackgate is supposed to be equipped to handle super-villains, they should be able to handle themselves against whatever threat these vampires pose."

Frank shook his head in frustration. "You're not hearing me. It's not just those two places."

Everyone stared up at Frank, their attention riveted on him.

"What do you mean?" demanded Waller.

"About two days after Arkham was closed off to the world, a third black spherical shell appeared. This time the black impenetrable dome is over the meta-human penitentiary that you work through."

Waller growled. "Belle Reve."

"That's the one. You were not there at the time it was closed off, but came running once you heard about it. Don't know how you did it exactly, said something about calling a hero through your man Black, so I guess it is someone you knew to get ahold of. Anyway, this hero managed to get an opening in the shield, and it was during that time that some of the vampires rushed out. You managed to capture a few of them and took them somewhere to interrogate. The bloodsuckers you caught were all newbies. Two were workers at Arkham, one a guard and the other a janitor. You also had captured the villain known as the Scarecrow."

"The Scarecrow, the master of fear, became a vamp?" Ethan shivered. "This is sounding less and less fun."

"Turns out most of the prisoners were being turned into vampires." Frank tried running a hand through his hair, but it didn't work very well as he was practically a ghost at the moment. "Scarecrow wouldn't talk so you just dusted him. You were able to get more out of the other two after that. From their rambling you learn that at least those didn't know who was leading them but that they were going to increase in more numbers and then have a vampire crusade across the planet."

Olga cursed in Russian and began to shake.

"Hey, Bradley, can you comfort Olga? I can't exactly hug her from where I'm stand… floating." Frank made a small motion to Bradley to go to Olga.

"What else?" demanded Waller.

"Um, yeah, there is some kind of interdimensional tunnel that leads from Arkham to Blackgate. And from there to Belle Reve. That's how they got there; by using tunnels. Also, back in Arkham, there is a tunnel going back to wherever the vampires came from, but the fledgling vamps were not allowed to travel that way."

Waller swore. "That many super-villains turned into vampires would definitely make a formidable army." Her hands formed into tight fists down at her sides as she thought. "And of course it has to be at the same time that the Justice League and several other hero groups take off into space to face some threat or other that they never seen fit to tell the rest of us lowly humans."

Donovan held up a hand. "So no Justice League, Justice Society, Outsiders, or Teen Titans?"

"Even the Freedom Fighters, the Marvel Family, the Metal Men and the Global Guardians went with them." She took a moment to rub her forehead. "They even took the damn Doom Patrol."

"So there are no superheroes left on the planet?" Bradley looked at her in askance.

"Minor league ones, mostly. And they won't be easy to get ahold of, let alone convince to come to our aid."

Her cell phone rang, and she instantly answered it. "Yes? Oracle? You heard?"

"Everything," said the female on the other end of the phone. "You realize that Arkham went dark almost two days ago exactly. And your futuristic source with you says that Belle Reve had the same thing happen to it at nearly any minute now."

"Get ahold of Ben – The Bronze Tiger. Tell him to do whatever he has to, but he must stop these things from overrunning Belle Reve."

"Calling him now," responded Oracle.

"Hey, lady!" Frank was waving his hands in his attempt to get Waller's attention.

"What?" she barked.

"Geez! Don't kill the messenger, Waller. I don't know what's up with me floating in the air over my body thing, but it's letting me hear whoever it is you are speaking with on your phone. Anyway, I thought this might be the time I should add that right before I did my ' _backstep_ ', that three other places were surrounded by these black spheres: Stryker's Island in Metropolis. Followed just a few minutes later by Iron Heights outside Keystone City. The last was a place you referred to as The Slab."

Waller's clenched fist was threatening to crush her phone. "Any more pertinent information I should know about?"

Frank shook his head. "Nope, I'm done. It's all on you now."

Waller let slip several curse words. "All right, Oracle, I know you are still listening, or recording this to listen to shortly. Send out alarms to those prisons. Stress the idea of interdimensional, super-strong aliens with a weakness in the way of high intensity ultraviolet light, fire and having their heads cut off." She considered the situation for a moment before adding, "Plus, maybe if the prisons lock themselves up tight, whoever is behind this will call off their attacks."

Ethan, who had been listening in, began to chuckle. "Optimism? From you? Amanda, my dear, it doesn't suit you."

"You don't want to be the focus of my frustration right now, Rayne," she warned, poking him in the chest hard with her finger. "So back off and let me work."

Knowing better than to intimidate her any further, Ethan turned away to check in the candles that were projecting Frank.

"Amanda!" Oracle shouted into her end of the phone line.

"What now!" she shouted back.

"It Ben! Bronze Tiger! I got ahold of him just as he and his team were imprisoning the Brotherhood of Evil! I had just finished explaining the gist of what was going to happen, and we were cut off! I took a look from an orbiting satellite, and the prison is encased in a black sphere!"

Waller took a moment to squeeze her brow with her spare hand as she thought. "Alright, we're going to have to believe that Ben can handle his end. I need you to gather Intel for all my operatives that were not at Belle Reve, and send me that immediately. Now where's our Slayer?"

"When she checked in six hours ago, she was in Los Angeles."

"Tell her to grab what allies she can, and to be ready for a quick trip to Gotham."

"Waller," began Oracle. "Your agreement with the Watchers Council won't allow us to snap up the Sunnydale Slayer, and thanks to that other agreement you made with Wolf, Ram & Hart, we can't involve Angel and his crew either."

"Contact the Watchers Council; maybe they can be reasonable for once. As for Faith, tell her to get whatever operatives she can. Point her to a few allies in her area that she could approach, too."

The computerized synthesized voice of Oracle let out a sigh. "Faith is not very good at diplomacy."

"Niceties will have to be used sparingly as we have a deadline," Waller snapped. "Oh, and check your recordings of a few minutes ago for instructions. As for me, I'm off to see the Wizard."

A snort came over the phone just before Oracle disconnected.

Ethan looked excited. "So we are off to-"

"Stuff it, Rayne." She turned to Frank and the others. "Well, I have a world to save. Frank, thank you for your service to your country. I hope your healing process is quick. We may need you soon."

"Uh, yeah, thanks," was all the astral image of Frank Parker could think to say.

Amanda gave Ethan a nod, and he began to put out the candles that were giving Frank form.

"What are you doing?" Olga charged forward to stop Ethan. "Can't you leave him like he is? I mean, he can talk to us this way," she said, growing flustered.

With a heavy sigh, Ethan shook his head. "It would do his soul damage if it were out from the body for too long a period of time."

"It's alright, Olga," came Frank's voice, as if across a great distance. With one of the candles put out, they could barely make out his image now. "We'll have plenty of time to talk as I heal. Who knows how long I'll be stuck in this bed? But, hey, you can keep me company and give me a bed bath!"

Olga managed a surprised laugh before rolling her eyes at his attempt to make light of the situation. Instead of responding to Frank, she gave a nod to Ethan to take down his candles.

The ethereal form of Frank dissipated along with the green smoke as Olga brought over a metal folding chair over to sit next to Frank's hospital bed.

Amanda Waller had her thoughts interrupted as Craig Donovan stepped over to her. "I'd like to be part of your team that goes to take these vampire creatures, or whatever they are, down."

Waller raised a curious eyebrow. "You still don't believe in vampires, do you?"

Donovan frowned. "I don't really know or care what these things are; just that they need to be stopped."

"That's a good attitude, but you are more use to us here, rather than on a mission for me."

"What do you mean?"

"Just this." She pointed over to Frank Parker. "Your program's chrononaut is currently out of commission. You are the program's backup even if you can't take the pain threshold of traveling through time well enough of steer this chronoshere you have here. You may have to try and fly that time machine anyway to get a ' _past_ ' me better Intel than what we have now."

Donovan's shoulder's drooped only slightly. He had been a Navy SEAL, and did not like to be kept on the sidelines. Especially if the only reason was to deliver a message for someone else so that they could fight. It was petty, but only just. He knew that whatever these things were, they were threatening the world. So if doing a ' _backstep_ ' could save it, he would do his part. "Right." He stepped back as Bradley decided to have a few words with Amanda.

"Amanda."

"Talmadge, I know I ran roughshod over you, pulling a gun and all, but this needed doing, and I won't apologize for it."

Bradley managed a humorless grin. "I was just going to say good luck."

They shook hands briefly before Amanda called over to Ethan. "You done there?"

He was closing his bag, and had told Olga that she could connect Frank back to his medical monitoring equipment. "Yep. What now, boss?"

"We need to go see Black."

"Yes!" He dug around in jacket pocket before bringing out an old leather dog collar. "Portkey?" He asked hopefully.

"Damn you, yes," she groused, picking up her briefcase, and walked toward him. Ethan Rayne, meanwhile dug furiously through one of his bags of unusual items. Amanda looked back at the others, "Talmadge, keep an ear open for me. I may end up calling with more Intel for Donovan to ' _backstep_ ' to me. But only as a last recourse."

Talmadge nodded even as Ethan held out the dog collar for her to take hold of. Ethan, with his bags tucked under one arm, held a wooden wand in his other hand.

"I love this part," Ethan said, almost breaking down into giggles.

Waller grimaced as she rolled her eyes. She hated using magic. She just couldn't understand it. She could, however, see the results of using it when she had to. "Just get on with it."

"What are you doing?" Bradley just had to ask.

"Magic!" Ethan answered, just before tapping the dog collar and saying the activation phrase ' _Snivellus is a dungeon bat_ ', causing Rayne and Waller to disappear with a pop.

¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`

 **AUTHOR's NoTeS**

 _I've been tinkering with this idea for quite a while now, long before I heard there was going to be a Suicide Squad movie or even the Assault On Arkham cartoon. I first came to read about the Suicide Squad (the Waller led version) when it first showed up in the Legends mini-series right before it took off in it's own series. I think that had a great deal to do with why I prefer the older Suicide Squad members and stories. And that is why I will be using most of the older characters in my story._

 _And since there isn't a Suicide Squad in the Comics section for Fanfiction dot net, I figured it would be easier found in the movie section._

 _Considering all the changes that the DC universe has undergone over the years, I'm just going to claim that this story is in an alternate universe and leave it at that. Most characters will come from the late 1980's to late 1990's with probably a few exceptions._

 _Now for those of you who are unfamiliar with the TV series_ _7 Days_ _, don't worry; I'm only using the show for it's time travel warning element and I shouldn't be bringing up any more of the characters for the rest of the story._

 _The only big half of this crossover story is from Buffy The Vampire Slayer. I'll let you see later just who all will be involved._

 _As some of you might have guessed from the portkey and the key phrase for activation, Sirius Black is going to be in the story, and is the wizard that Ethan was referring to. There will also be a few other crossover characters that will pop up here and there, and I'll just leave you guessing for now._

 _Thanks for reading. Now it's your turn to do your part and review._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **BELLE REVE PENITENTIARY, LOUISIANA**

Ben Turner twisted in the dark, tripping the charging gorilla, and adding a kick to its momentum, so that it fell face first into the wall. Turner crouched on his feet, listening to the confusion around him, preparing for another attack.

And then the emergency lights came on.

"Everyone freeze!" he commanded, being as authoritative as possible.

It helped that Deadshot had his wrist guns covering the two most dangerous opponents. His left gun was aimed at the augmented gorilla known throughout the superhuman community as Monsieur Mallah. Deadshot's right gun was focused on the Haitian-born villain called the Houngan, who crossed computer science with voodoo with horrific efficiency. Of the four prison guards that had accompanied them, two had been knocked out and left bleeding on the floor, another lay nearby cradling his broken arm, while the fourth guard was keeping his rifle trained on Mallah.

Plasmus, having had his body transformed into a protoplasmic state that can burn whatever he touches, had been encased when captured by Turner's team inside a specially made plastic bodysuit, but that had not stopped him from tackling Captain Boomerang, trying to crush the Australian costumed villain with his mass. George ' _Digger_ ' Harkness, with the fanciful name of Captain Boomerang, was cursing for all he was worth as he tried wriggling from under the pink globulous villain.

Count Vertigo, the last descendant of the royal family of the small European country of Vlatava, had the villainess Phobia reeling due to his _'vertigo effect'_ making her too sick to her stomach to even lift her head or open her eyes, let alone use her fear based powers.

Deciding that Mallah needed more of an incentive to stand down, the Bronze Tiger had picked up the fourth member of the Brotherhood of Evil. "Mallah… and the rest of you stand the hell down right now!"

"Or what?!" called out Plasmus with his garbled thick German accent. "You lock us up longer than life sentences?!" To show his lack of being impressed, despite his arms being bound, he worked even harder at trying to crush the Aussie Flash foe, even upping his temperature to try burn through the plastic bodysuit that held him captive.

"Or I smash the Brain until him new name is ' _the Pudding'_!"

The Brain, the founder and leader of the Brother of Evil, a French mastermind and criminal genius, had had his body destroyed in an explosion, leaving only his brilliant brain undamaged. Mallah, an ape that the Brain had modified to having I.Q. of 178 and being his personal assistant, had saved The Brain by putting his brain inside a computer casing that he could interface with. In actuality, the Brain's housing unit resembled a large chess piece with a skull like motif. Just above the skull feature was a glass dome that displayed a living brain of the diabolical villain resting in a nutrient bath.

Currently, the Brain was virtually trapped within his encasing with everything disconnected except for the things controlling his life support. And while the dome over the brain was bulletproof, there was only the fluid within the dome to help protect the Brain from damage of impacts. Hitting enough hard surfaces, while not being enough to crack the dome open, was more than enough to inflict a concussion or even permanent brain damage to the disembodied villain.

"No!" howled Mallah, his hand out in a stopping gesture. "Do not hurt the Brain! We surrender again to you!"

The Bronze Tiger turned to one of his teammates. "Count, go to the largest drawer behind you. The punch code to open it is 2-5-8-5-1."

Count Vertigo raised an eyebrow, but complied to the order. The drawer automatically slid open revealing a several metallic objects. "What is this for?"

"I'll explain in a moment. Take one of the larger ones and place it around Mallah's neck. Then do the wrist bands for the others."

Mallah did nothing as Vertigo placed the metallic collar around his neck. He didn't need his incredible intellect to know that it was an explosive device to ensure his compliance. He also knew that any attempt to hold Count Vertigo hostage would get the Brain killed, as his review of the so-called Suicide Squad led him to know that the members did not have a high regard for their fellow teammates lives.

"Why do you use these only now?" inquired the Houngan while Count Vertigo placed a smaller version of the explosive device on his wrist.

"Because I am inducting you into the Suicide Squad," he answered.

"And if we don't wish to join your group of traitors?" Plasmus asked as he finally rolled off of Captain Boomerang. He had no concerns about explosive devices as his gelatinous would just reform afterwards. He detested the super-villains that decided to work for the government and turn on their fellow villains.

"The call I just took before the lights went out, that was our leader. Turns out she had just learned of what was going to happen here, and I agree with her presumption that we are going to need all the help we can get."

"Why should we help you?" demanded the Haitian villain.

"Because the lights going out was caused by a black dome encasing this prison leaving us no way out. Because this dome is the same as the domes that recently encompassed Arkham Asylum and Blackgate Penitentiary. Because whoever is doing this is turning everyone inside the domes into vampires before moving onto the next dome."

"Wait, vampires?" Captain Boomerang had just got to his feet and was about to launch one of his specialty boomerangs at Plasmus in retaliation, only to be stopped by this bit of news. "Those things are just bloody campfire stories, ain't they?"

Houngan shook his head. "Non, they are monsters of the night. The things of nightmares." His furious look at them was more than enough evidence to show who he blamed for being involved in this current predicament.

"Do you have anything in your tools to deal with vampires?" Bronze Tiger asked the voodoo practitioner.

"I have some things that should work," Houngan admitted, his hand scratching his chin as he pondered all that he had available to him.

"We need to consult the Brain," insisted Mallah from where he stood with a fierce look on his face.

The Bronze Tiger considered for only a moment before carrying the Brain over to the gorilla. "Start by reconnecting his communications abilities first. Any ideas he has could go a long way to saving all of us." Turner knew the Brain to be a despicable being, but he was crafty in was that boggled most everyone else.

Mallah tenderly brought the Brain's housing unit close to him before sitting down on the floor to check to see what all had been disabled. He barely looked up when Count Vertigo put a small toolbox next to him.

"What is this ' _Suicide Squad_ '?" Phobia managed to ask as she moved her head away from where she had vomited. "How does it work?"

"A government program. We are given high-risk missions for commuting our prison sentences," Count Vertigo said after handing her a rag to wipe her face with. "Using convicts, the government can deny sanctioning our actions. It goes without saying that we are not allowed to discuss missions once we are released."

She glanced at the metallic bracelet on her wrist. "And these?"

"To ensure compliance. Explosive devices." He paused before adding. "And I have seen then used on a deserter. It is not a pleasant way to die."

As the others organized themselves, the remaining guard tended to his injured friends. Meanwhile, the Bronze Tiger went to a console screen to talk with those trapped inside the dome.

On one screen was John Economos in his office, the warden of Belle Reve, while on the second screen was Mari Jiwe McCabe, better known as Vixen.

"Vampires? Are you freakin' kidding me?" shouted John.

"No, not just vampires," stated Bronze Tiger. "Vampires that had once been the inmates of Arkham and Blackgate, as well as the staff and guards."

"What is the plan?" Vixen asked. She had been responsible for taking their teammate Nightshade as well as the comatose member of the Brotherhood of Evil, Warp, to the prison infirmary.

"Waller said to do whatever we had to." Bronze Tiger held up an explosive bracelet. "So, we use the inmates, and arm them."

"That's not a good plan," John said, shaking his head.

"The alternative is to leave the inmates trapped in their cells, defenseless against the vampires, whose ranks will swell to greater numbers."

John scowled. "Fine, but I want all of them with bracelets on before you arm them."

"They are going to need their weapons," pointed out Vixen. It was not well known that in the lower levels of the prison, many of the weapons of super-villains were studied. "And the use of their powers."

"Waller won't like that," John pointed out.

"But she would do the same thing if she was stuck in here."

John looked distracted. "I have alarms on the watch towers. I don't see any threats so far though."

"Can vampires be seen on cameras? I only know that they don't have a reflection in mirrors," Vixen interjected.

John Economos swore. "Something's attacking the guards. I can't see them on the monitors; just their bodies being thrown around!"

"Try using motion sensors, the ones using echo location. Either way we don't have much time," snapped Ben. "Mari, you go to the female prisoners section. Get wrist bracelets on them, explain to them the threat, and then bring them down to the basement. Use those that have powers to cover your retreat. John, I need you to get Flo down to the basement laboratory. We need as much of the weapons as we can get. Also have Murph send someone to get Father Craemer and bring him down along with whatever holy symbols he has. Now move!"

He shut off his end of the line, not wanting to deal with any questions they might have. They didn't have time to discuss things. Not if any of them were going to live.

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 **WILLY'S PLACE**

 **SUNNYDALE, CALIFORNIA**

"So, this is a demon bar." Elizabeth Thorne eyes brushed over the seedy place with disappointment. As bars went, it was more of a dive than anything else. Most things look like they've been repaired more than a few times. But considering the rough nature of the crowd, it was only natural that the owner of the place didn't want to shell out the dough to upgrade the place. He'd have had to replace almost a quarter of the place every week if he just swapped things out as soon as they were broken.

As for the supernatural element of the place, she was going to have to take Faith's word that the three guys that had hurriedly left when they came in were actually vampires.

There were several other indicators that Faith was telling the truth about the bar. Down on the far end of the bar chatting with the bartender/owner known as Willie was a humanoid figure that had red scaly skin as well as eyes with blood red irises and small horns growing from his eyebrows. Faith had assured her that the demon was an Ano-movic, and was considered a peaceful demon for the most part that had acclimated into western culture. On the same note, she had described Willie as a double-crossing snitch who she couldn't trust as far as she could throw. But he was bribable, and would stand by that bribe until someone else offered more money or just threatened him.

"So who are we meeting?"

Faith took a gulp of the beer she had ordered while trying to ignore the dirtiness of the mug. "They should be here soon."

Elizabeth, otherwise known as Black Thorn, knew that if Faith didn't automatically give out information, then she really didn't want to talk about it.

She had been working with Faith for close to a year now. Faith had been approached by Amanda Waller to assist in a type of work release program to cut down on her prison time due to murdering a man. It had come as a surprise to Faith that Waller had actually worked out a deal with the Watchers Council to use her to fight supernatural monsters that Slayers were created to fight. It wasn't to be Amanda's typical Suicide Squad. No, this would be a small group that would focus strictly on taking down the true monsters of the world. Faith was the first member of the team. Black Thorn was the second.

While Faith Lehane had grown up on the poor side of the tracks, Elizabeth Thorne had been a rich, partying socialite. Becoming bored with that, she decided to prove her worth by joining the CIA, but soon felt too constrained by the need to operate within the law. So, after faking her death, she became a vigilante in New York, and ironically began working with another masked hero named Vigilante. She had been devastated when he killed himself. And that was when Amanda Waller had found her.

The third member of their team had only been with them for five months now. Jack Wheeler, a.k.a. Wild Dog, had been a marine until he quit after his squad was killed by a terrorist bomb. After several other dramatic incidents after returning to civilian life, he had had enough and took to the streets as a masked vigilante who was more than willing to use a submachine gun to take down gangsters and other criminals that crossed his path. Also among his weapons were a pair of electrified _'shock gloves'_. His costume consists of camouflage pants, combat boots, a local college football jersey emblazoned with a snarling red dog that hid his protective body armor, along with a hockey mask to protect his face as well as hide his identity.

Waller had liked the new vigilante's style, but knew that the current superhero community would not allow a murdering vigilante to be running around, so she collected him for her team before someone else went after Wild Dog.

There had been other members to their small group. Ragman, a volunteer, had quit after a month. Black Bison had tried turning on them by joining forces with their target, the blue alien sorcerer Kulak, only for both of them to end up trap in an alien dimension. The were-creature known as the Hyena had gone wild and had had to be put down.

But the loss that had hurt the most had been an old samurai by the name of Sumo. After becoming a master of the martial arts, he had been selected to drink a ' _Potion of Power_ ', which had vastly increased his strength, speed, agility and senses. It had also increased his longevity as he had fought during World War II against the Allies, the Justice Society and the All-Star Squadron. Sumo had seen the aching hole in Faith and Elizabeth. While he wasn't the touchy-feely type, he did know about structure. For months, all their down time was dedicated to training in all the fighting styles he knew. Black Thorn had found it daunting, but pushed on. Faith, however, was reveling in learning from such a skilled mentor, however, she did stress the need to hit a nightclub at least every other week.

A month previous, Faith, Black Thorn, Wild Dog and Sumo had been sent to take down a clan of Miquot demons that had been gathering illegal immigrants crossing the border into the USA. The monsters had counted on the fact that no one would notice the disappearances while they set up a shipping industry of sending out live food for demon consumption.

The fighting had been brutal against the yellow reptilian demons who could rip off the serrated bone plates off their forearms to use as daggers. Black Thorn had received a nasty cut on her leg that had caused her to have to pull back to patch up before she bled to death. Even after bandaging the wound, she had still passed out from blood loss.

Sumo had had to guard her from any of the other attacking Miquot demons. The chieftain of the demons and his son were determined to defeat the mighty warrior who had killed so many of their people. Sumo had to use all his focus on holding them off. So much so that the chieftain's wife had been able to charge at the samurai from behind, head-butting him in the back, effectively stabbing him with the many Stegosaurus bone spikes that protruded from the top of her skull like a jagged hairstyle.

After Faith and Wild Dog had killed the remaining Miquot demons, they were able to be there for the last few moments before Sumo passed away. Before he breathed his last breath, Sumo passed on his sword to Faith, telling her to use it well and keep mankind safe. She swore to do so.

"Looks like Cassidy was found a friend," Elizabeth said with amusement.

Faith took a look back and almost spit out her drink in surprise. They had met Daniel Cassidy early this morning when he was having a tussle with a demon named Nebiros that smashed into the building that Faith and her team were taking down a Haxil Beast before the woman who had been inseminated by proxy was killed by the demon spawn within her. Fortunately for Cassidy, he was rather well known so her team knew who the bad guy was in the situation.

Cassidy was a special effects wizard/stuntman who a few years ago had been hired to create and play the title character in the movie _Blue Devil_. He had made a full-body exoskeleton, including several built-in special-effects devices, containing within the costume he was to perform within. Out on some tropical island where they were filming a large part of the movie, Cassidy had had to protect the film crew from an accidentally freed demon named Nebiros, only to be blasted with mystical energy that had somehow permanently grafted the Blue Devil costume to his body. Even more bizarrely, the costume was now basically organic, and could do self-repairs at an extremely fast rate.

After dispatching the Haxil Beast, and sending Nebiros on his way, Faith and her team had introduced themselves to the stuntman-turned-reluctant-superhero. While Cassidy had learned some about the supernatural world, talking with Faith had been an eye-opener. Wanting to prove some of her claims, she had invited Cassidy to come with her to Sunnydale to visit a demon bar. Intrigued, Cassidy agreed. And it was just as they neared Sunnydale that Oracle had called her for a mission, telling her to bring along anyone she could. She even made one suggestion.

"Hey, Faith!"

"Hey there yourself, boytoy," she responded with a wry grin.

"So where is- Whoa, is that him?" He looked past her to the nearly seven-foot-tall figure of the Blue Devil.

Faith grinned even more as Xander went into full fanboy mode. "Oh, man! How did you meet him? Is he making a sequel to his _Blue Devil_ movie? Is he here looking for extras? I can build sets and/or be an extra! I've been getting some practice in with a battle axe and sword, though to tell the truth my sword work still sucks. Or I could just be a gopher! I know where all the top take-out places and donut shops are! If it's backgrounds you need, I can direct his director to the creepiest graveyards and mansions we have! I can even-"

"Down, boy!" By all rights, she knew that Xander shouldn't have even been even willing to talk to her. She had done some serious wrong to him and his friends, mostly him though. She was rather surprised that he had even come to talk to her. It wasn't going to help what she was about to do next to him. "There's no plans for a movie. At least not that he has mentioned to me. So, when will B get here?" she asked

"Buffy?" That seemed to bring him back some. "She's working on some project for Giles. Said it was too delicate for me to be around and sent me packing."

Faith raised an eyebrow. Something definitely was up if Buffy didn't want Xander around. It would have had to have been really important, too, if she was willing to upset Xander by sending him away while she and the others dealt with it. "Kay, but now the big question: why all the friendliness? We didn't part exactly on the best of terms."

Xander grunted at that. The last he had seen of her, Faith had been taken to prison for killing a man, as well as framing Buffy for the crime. She had also beaten Xander senseless. It had not been a good time for any of them.

"Willow," he said, his eyes still glued onto Cassidy as the stuntman-turned-semi-demon tried to disengage himself from the embrace of the Froctor demoness. "She did some of her computer kung fu and found out you were working on the side of the white hats again as part of a secret government magical black ops group that takes down demons."

Faith couldn't hide her smile. She just wished she could see Oracle's face, when she told her that a teenage girl had hacked her system, and left no trace that she had done so. But, no, Faith had never met the woman. Faith wasn't even sure that Waller had met the mysterious Oracle.

"Yeah, so did Red happen to tell you about the larger part of the group I belong to?"

"Um, no. I think she was just checking on you. You know, seeing how you were doing inside the big house."

That made sense to her. Breaking the trust of the group had upset everyone, so she could understand Willow wanting to keep tabs on where she was. Faith was a Slayer after all, and escaping a prison would be practically a walk in the park if she had ever decided to leave there.

"Did she mention Task Force X?"

"No."

"What about Suicide Squad?"

That seemed to catch his attention. "Wait, what now?"

"Is that a no?"

"Uh, yeah. Definitely a ' _no_ '." He took a moment to hop onto a barstool. "What in the hellmouth are you into, Faith?"

With an annoyed sigh, she got onto a stool next to him, and ordered a beer from Willie. The bartender got her drink immediately, not daring to card her.

After a sip, she began explaining how the program worked, how it let the government set it up so that criminals could volunteer to have their sentences reduced by doing the government's dangerous, dirty work.

"Geez, that sounds terrible." He had tried ordering a beer from Willie, too, but the bartender was not as complying to his request as he had been to the Slayer's. Instead, he was served a root beer.

"Yep, I agree." She then drained her glass in a single gulp. "Say, you know that time you got into that military barracks and stole a rocket launcher to take down the Judge?"

"Oh, yeah. Hey, do you need me to help you get some gear?" he said, all too eagerly.

She gave a laugh and a shake of her head. "No, I can get all the hardware I need usually. No, you see, military places like that have cameras all over. They have to know if someone is getting in to play with their toys and all."

"Wait, what are you saying?" he asked, perplexed. "Are you saying they saw me? Cause I'm about sixty-two percent sure that I wasn't seen."

"You were seen, boytoy. Filmed even."

"What? And they didn't do anything about it in all this time. Naw, I'm not buying it."

"The higher ups in the military have some connections to The Watchers Council. The Council were the ones who asked the military to turn a blind eye to your borrowing."

"So, I'm in the clear then, right?"

"Well, you were. Unfortunately, well, you see, my boss has a tendency to of doing pretty much whatever the hell she wants if it'll help a mission. Trouble is there is a big vampire epidemic starting to happen, and she is not allowed to bring Buffy in on this."

"That's stupid," he said flatly. "You and Buff together are a real lethal combination to any vamp situations."

"Not arguing." She took a big sip of her drink and set it down and closed her eyes before saying the next part. "Anyway, here's the deal: you come now and help deal with this vamp situation, and Waller will make the evidence disappear. You will have made up for the transgression and never have to worry about it again."

Xander gave her a look like that of a puppy staring into the headlights of an oncoming car. "Whatity-what-now?"

Rolling her eyes. "Sorry to do this, Xandman, but I'm inducting you into the Suicide Squad." She now gulped down the beer, before slamming the glass down on the bar.

He gave her a sly look, then began to laugh. "Good one, Faith. You almost had me believing you."

She rolled her eyes and looked to her now empty glass, trying to determine if she dared have another glass since she didn't portkey travel well. "Xander, this is real."

He frowned. "I'm supposed to believe you drove all the way up here to force me on some covert ops group called the Suicide Squad?"

She shook her hair, and was surprised to see that it had caught his eye. She was surprised that he still had some interest in her. Especially after how wrong she had treated him. She half thought he would come to the bar looking for revenge. "We didn't come here for you. My team had met Cassidy at the tail end of a fight and decided to spend some down time together. He was surprised to hear about a demon bar, so we said we'd show him one. We were almost in Sunnydale when my boss sent word to grab whoever I could and be prepared to fight. Your name was on the list of those I was told to contact."

"But not Buffy?"

"Can't."

"Or Giles?"

"Nope."

"Or Willow?"

"She wouldn't last a minute."

"But I would?"

Faith nodded, smiling in assurance. "There is more to you than you think, Xandman."

Something else just clicked for the eighteen-year-old. "Wait a mo? Is the Blue Devil enlisted on this tour of duty?"

She swiveled on her barstool. "He volunteered when he heard. In fact, he…" She stopped as they watched as the Froctor demoness began grappling with the Blue Devil, including locking horns together.

"Hey, no mating rituals in here!" Willie shouted from safety behind his bar.

"There will be no mating going on!" shouted Cassidy. "I'm just trying to keep her off me!"

From the jukebox came a Barry Manilow song wafting through the dim air of the bar. Black Thorn could be seen slow dancing with a pink-skinned demon with pig ears and lots of skin folds on his face. Black Thorn didn't seem to mind the oddity of her dancing companion, and just moved to the lyrics.

"Is she under some kind of spell?" whispered Xander.

"Not sure," Faith said, shaking off the surprise. "I know that she's dancing with a Loose-Skinned demon. They aren't exactly known for their hostility except when being attacked. That said, never attack one head on. Trust me, it's too freaky to explain."

"That's just Clem," Willie volunteered. "He's no threat to anyone. Except to kittens."

"….?" Xander couldn't think of a thing to say to that.

Faith had other ideas. "Think he would be able to go against some vampires?"

Willie scratched his chin in thought. "He has been low on cash lately. And I'm tired of him trying to pay for his drinks with kittens, so I hope so. Ask him, but quote him a large figure."

"Hey," spoke another voice. "Whatever you do, don't go into the bathroom. The toilets are beyond disgusting."

Upon spying the new person, Xander jumped off his barstool and sent a quick, frantic kick at the man's chest, knocking him backwards.

"Hey, that's one of my teammates!" Faith shouted.

Xander looked at her agog. "You have Jason Voorhees on your team?!"

Faith burst out in laughter. "Xander, you idiot! Jason Voorhees is a movie character! This is Wild Dog: a costumed vigilante that I work with!"

Xander shifted to a more awkward stance. "Oh, so I didn't just kick an unstoppable, homicidal, maniac zombie slasher?"

"No, you idiot!" Wild Dog jumped up. "And if you weren't a friend of Faith's, you would be trying to pick up your teeth about now! Along with the rest of your jaw!"

Xander made placating gestures with his hands as he took in the man's college jersey, along with the submachine gun he had strapped to his side. "Sorry! Really, Mr. Dog! It's just your hockey mask, you know? It's rather scary to see outside a hockey rink. I mean why are you wearing something like that anyway?"

"Maybe because I like to keep my face the way it's arranged now!"

"Right! Right! I'm sure you look real good under that mask!" Xander agreed, again making with the calming gestures. "Not that it matters to me as I am a very straight man, very hetero of the sexual! How about I buy you a drink. Willie, what kind of drink can I get for six dollars and seventy-five cents for Faith's very dangerous friend?"

"Making friends, Xander?" said someone familiar from the doorway.

"Riley Finn?"

Finn came into the bar slowly, taking in all the various demons as well as the exits that he could see. He was in his Initiative combat gear, and armed as well.

"Uh, Riley, this place is kind of an unofficial neutral zone," Xander explained, "so let's not make with the bang bang in here. Please?"

"Right!" agreed Willie, already partially ducked down behind his bar. "Just what Mr. Harris said! Completely neutral! No fighting in-"

Just then Blue Devil and the Froctor demoness smashed their way into the bathroom.

"Um, they're just conducting a mating ritual," Willie explained sheepishly. "A different kind of ' _bang bang_ ' altogether."

"Oracle sent me," Riley explained as he walked in, his eyes on Faith. It had been nearly a year since they last saw each other. She had switched bodies with Buffy, them had a liaison with him, not telling him that she was not his girlfriend. Other things had happened in all that time, too. His commander, Maggie Walsh died. So did several of his friends in the Initiative. In fact, the Initiative was now done away with altogether, and he had quit. Now he pretty much hunted demons pro bono, trying to prove himself capable to himself and, hopefully, Buffy, too. Though on the latter part, he didn't give much hope for.

"I'm working on the side of good again, Finn," Faith explained. "You wouldn't have been called if the need wasn't desperate. So I have to ask you, can you work with me?"

Riley grit his teeth before answering. "For the time being, I suppose. But afterwards, we'll just have to see."

"I hope that applies to me, too, soldier boy," came another voice from the doorway. Spike stepped into the poorly lit doorway and blew out a cloud of cigarette smoke. "Because for this bit of fun, we are all going to all have to work together."

"Oh, great," bemoaned Xander. "There is no way this won't fall apart." Turning away, he grumbled, "I am so dead."

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 **CAFETERIA**

 **S.T.A.R. LABS**

 **METROPOLIS**

"After my psychotic cousin sent me flying through the Veil, I found myself floating in the abyss." He stopped to wipe his mouth with a napkin before leaning back in his chair.

"Abyss? What, like purgatory or something?" Chris King sat across from his companion why slowly eating his tapioca pudding.

Sirius Black scratched his head as he contemplated the question. "No. At least I don't think so. Probably some formless dimension between my home universe and yours."

Chris took a sip of his coffee. He had once spent some time in purgatory, and what Sirius was describing didn't quite match it. "How long were you there?"

"Hard to tell really. There was no sky, no horizon. Everything was lit with a grayish light that seemed to come from everywhere. Or nowhere. Hell, there wasn't even hot or cold." The wizard let out an exasperated sigh. "It could have been days, or even weeks. Maybe even months."

"Months? Really? How could you stay alive? How did you sustain yourself?"

He barked out a laugh. "Damn stupid luck to be honest. When my cousin Bellatrix blasted me through the Veil, I had a spare wand with me. First thing I did was try to get myself back across the Veil."

"The dimensional doorway?"

"That's not what we thought it was. Well, actually I don't know if anyone ever knew what it was. It was just one of those things someone made, but then never knew what to do with it. All anyone ever really knew was that whatever went it, never came back."

Chris cracked a grin. "A universal garbage dump!"

He managed to return a weak smile. "Yes, well, my people, the wizards and witches of Britain of my universe anyway, they have always considered the Veil as the doorway to death. In fact, prisoners sentenced to death have been thrown through the Veil."

Chris wasn't smiling now. "So there were other people. You weren't alone."

The dark-haired man shook his head. "You're getting ahead of me." He reached out to pick up his own cup of coffee. "I couldn't get back to the other side. I couldn't even see it. I was terrified." He sipped his coffee before setting it back down. "But over time, fear gave way to tiredness. Somehow, I fell asleep. Woke up and was terrified again. Eventually, fear gave way to boredom. I could use my wand to create water, but not food. Fortunately, I could transfigure somethings into food. A handkerchief became a banana. A sock became a chicken sandwich."

"You ate your wardrobe?" he asked, his spoon left forgotten in his cup of tapioca.

"Some of it. I soon realized that it wasn't going to do for the long term. I needed to find something else. Not only to eat. I needed to not be alone."

Chris nodded, waiting for him to continue. It was only courteous after all, especially for such a tragic story.

Sirius had paused. Those memories were "I used my wand to search for anything else around, you know. Wizards had been dumping things in here for hundreds of years. Something else must be floating about, yeah?"

"And…?"

"Well, I found one body. He'd evidently died horribly from thirst. Ended up dragging him to the next body and the next."

Chris now looked at him with revulsion and horror. "You-you ate them?"

"What? No! Weren't you listening? I ate their clothing that I transfigured into food. Bloody hell, man! I have had to live off of raw rats for months on end, but cannibalism? Even I draw the line at that."

"Oh." Chris took a moment to embarrassingly stare into his coffee cup. What do you say to excuse jumping the gun and practically accusing someone of eating the bodies of his fellow man?

"I don't know how long I'd been there until Nightshade's group came passing through and found me."

"Nightshade?" That was a name he knew. "The heroine? She's got shadow powers, right?"

Sirius nodded. "And she can travel though portals she creates, going between dimensions."

"She's part of Waller's group?"

"Yeah."

Both men knew Waller. Waller had used her many influential contacts to get them into S.T.A.R. Labs. In exchange for certain practical spells from Sirius, the people at S.T.A.R. Labs would try and determine how to get the wizard back to his parallel universe.

Chris King's situation was different. He and his friend Vicki Grant had been exploring a 'haunted house' in the town of Fairfax when the two teens had discovered two small circular dials. After further examination, they discovered that if they were to dial the letters H-E-R-O on them, they would instantly transform into costumed heroes for an hour. The oddest part was that each time they transform, they would become a different hero, automatically knowing their costumed identity and abilities. And for the most part, their transformed alter egos were unknown to the world, having never been seen before.

Over time, Chris has somehow internalized the power of the H Dial, and could make the transformation whenever he wanted. But that didn't last long and he soon found himself unintentionally turning into a new superhero every hour. While the scientists at S.T.A.R. Labs had been glad to have a chance to study him while they worked on solving his problem, it had been Waller who had managed to find something to stabilize him.

Sirius Black suddenly sat up in alarm. "Damn, help me clear the area. We have visitors about to drop in. Best to have a circle. Fifteen feet in diameter."

Chris knew better than to ask questions, instead he focused on the energies within him. In his right hand, he gripped a small leather pouch that contained a fragment of what Waller had said was a cosmic egg. Whatever it was, it allowed him to not be so random in a selection of a hero, but instead it would be a hero that was more practical to the task he was undertaking.

Now, instead of Chris King, now there was the mutant Quicksilver who used his super-speed abilities to move the table and chairs out the distance that Black had suggested, as well moving the other patrons of the cafeteria. Just in time, too, as Amanda Waller and Ethan Rayne seemed to materialize as they slowly fell to the floor.

Amanda stumbled as she made contact with the ground, but was kept from falling by Quicksilver who braced her in time. "Watch the hands, mister!"

"Sorry, Mrs. Waller. Not intentional, I assure you."

Ethan had tumbled onto the cafeteria floor, falling into a giggling heap. "I love magic!"

Amanda had scanned the crowd for the person she had come for. "There you are, Sirius Black."

Sirius grimaced a smile. For some reason, dealing with her reminded him of his encounters with the Goblins of Gringotts. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"There is a situation." She wasn't about to say more than that with so many ears around. "Who's this?" she jabbed a finder in Quicksilver's direction.

"You know him better as Chris King."

She eyed the silver-haired mutant in his light blue and white costume. "I see."

"Well I don't." A tall, thin, attractive, redheaded woman in a white lab coat pushed through the chairs that Quicksilver had moved. "What is going on here?"

It took Waller only a moment to remember the name of the woman, one of the lead scientists at S.T.A.R. Labs. "Hello, Dr. Klyburn. I can't go into details, but know this, there is a worldwide emergency I am trying to prevent. If you could direct us to a conference room that would be extremely helpful."

Jenet Klyburn barely hesitated. She had been in several encounters with Superman, some of which included pitched battles that he was having with one of his foes. While she had only encountered Waller twice before, she knew instantly that she disliked her. She knew part of it had to do with the arrogance that Waller personified, as well as how she bullied people to get what she wanted. But right now, Jenet could also detect a hint of desperation. "Follow me."

Waller scanned the crowd of onlookers, then followed after Klyburn. "Get up already, Ethan. Mr. Black, Mr. King, please come with us."

"I'm Quicksilver right now," said the mutant hero.

"How's the transformation doing?"

There was a momentary look of scorn on the hero's face before transforming back into Chris King. "Ah, fine. The fragment you gave me seems to have worked like a charm. Dr. Beecher has hypothesized that the heroes I now transform into are all from one parallel universe, while before I had been somehow transforming into heroes from random universes."

"Have you repeated any transformations?"

"Yeah, but it takes over a month to do so." He seemed to hesitate for a moment but Amanda caught it out of the corner of his eye.

"What is it?" she demanded, as they maneuvered around a mail cart.

"Uh, it's just, well, every now and then there is… I don't know what. It's like I become an amalgam of a hero here and one from whatever universe I am copying heroes from."

"Hmm. Is it dangerous?"

"Not that anyone has noticed."

She had read most of the reports on Chris King that Oracle had forwarded to her. She hadn't understood the majority of it, but the uniform that the people at S.T.A.R. Labs made for him had various monitors inside in order to study all his transformations, so that was at least something. It was also secretly helping Waller build a dossier on all the heroes of that universe, in case she ever needed it.

"Is Dr. Beecher-Duncan here?"

Jenet glanced back as she opened the doors to an empty conference room. "The Titans called her a few days ago, so she took some time off to help them."

Waller frowned at the loss of another potential resource. Dr. Karen Beecher-Duncn and her husband, Mal Duncan had been part-time Teen Titans in their younger years working under the alias of Bumblebee and the Herald. They had mostly retired from super-heroics for the most part, focusing most of their energies into the scientific community.

"Just a moment," Waller said to Jenet before she could leave. From a pocket she brought out her phone. "Oracle, and news on Faith? No? Well, if you don't hear from her in an hour, give her a call and tell her to hustle." She paused as Oracle told her there was nothing new to report. "Right now Ethan and I are at the Metropolis S.T.A.R. Labs. Could you see if there is any local talent here that I can get my hands on? Physicists, mad doctors, patients, even the janitors with supernatural abilities. I'm not too picky at the moment."

"What do you mean by local talent?" Klyburn demanded. "Our patients here are all here confidentially. For many of them, that is why they are willing to come here."

"Just a moment, Oracle." Waller lowered her phone down to her should and gave Jenet a scalding glare. "Klyburn, I am in a situation where I have to try and save all life on the planet. If you want to be helpfully you can see if some of your tech boys can put together some strong ultraviolet weapons, controlled flamethrowers, heat beams, disintegrating rays. Just something! Otherwise get out of my way!"

Jenet had a good idea what Amanda Waller's job was. Not the whole scope of it, but she knew Waller took down threats. That said, Waller saying she was trying to save the world was very likely a true thing. "I can probably get you an old attack robot one of our classes were about to start studying. One of our professors and a couple interns had just restored it."

Waller saw the opening and went for it. "Does it use motion sensors? Because regular optics probably won't work."

"I think we can implement that. Can I ask who the opponents are?"

If there was one thing Amanda hated, it was sharing information. She only ever did so out of necessity. This was one of those times. "Dr. Klyburn, you are a scientist. And working with S.T.A.R. Labs you have come into contact with robots, aliens, time travelers, people from other dimensions, and so on. So please believe me that I am trying to stop an army of vampires. And yes, I mean the supernatural undead kind that only come out at night."

Jenet just stared at her for a moment. She lived and breathed science. Science had answers, you just had to find them. Being somewhat connected with superheroes, she had tried understanding how the powers of Dr. Fate and the Spectre worked, and had had to come to the conclusion that there were some things she was just never going to understand.

"Vampires? That's why you want UV weaponry and why you think optic sensors won't detect them."

"Nice deduction, doctor. But can you provide me with what I need?"

"I –I think so. For some of the items, it might take a few hours."

"It best be very few, or my team won't be able to use it. Our window of opportunity is closing fast."

Dr. Klyburn nodded, then began thinking which equipment might be best suited to deposing of vampires.

Waller returned to her phone. "What have you got, Oracle?"

"There are two patients being treated for ways to remove their powers. You might know them as Heatstroke and Coldsnap. They are members of The Masters of Disaster. They have mostly gone against the Outsiders. Oh, and get this: they were lovers, but after the accident that gave them their powers, they began doing mercenary work in order to get the funding to try remove their powers so they can be together again. Right now, they can't even touch one another. They came here hoping that S.T.A.R. Labs might have a clue as to how to help them."

"I'd be more sympathetic for them if they hadn't gone and become terrorists-for-hire."

"Agreed," commented Oracle. "Do you need anything else, Amanda?"

"Just everything you can give me."

Oracle chuckled. "I'll get right on that. Oracle out."

Amanda glanced over to Jenet Klyburn. "Dr. Klyburn, I'd like to discuss two of your patients."

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 **GLOSSARY**

 **Angel / Liam** – Once he was one of the evilest vampires in the world, Angel regained his soul after being cursed by gypsies for killing one of their young women, and set out to redeem himself by helping others.

 **Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane** – A prison in Gotham City where many of Batman's enemies are imprisoned for treatment.

 **Belle Reve –** A prison in Louisiana specially designed to incarcerate metahumans which also services as the headquarters of the Suicide Squad.

 **Black Bison / Ravenhair, John** \- An anti-hero adversary of Firestorm who is a potent magic-wielder, able to bring inanimate objects to life. _For this story, he was a former member of Faith's Suicide Squad._

 **Blackgate Penitentiary –** A Gotham prison that houses many of the harshest criminals and Batman's villains.

 **Black, Sirius** – A pure-blood wizard with a dog Animagus form. Sirius was framed for the murder of James and Lily Potter by their friend Peter Pettigrew, and was imprisoned for over a decade without a trial. Then, seeing a need to protect his godson, Harry Potter, he escaped. Two years later, he had gone to rescue his godson again, only to be blasted through the Veil of Death by his cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange. _For this story, Sirius has been offered aid by Amanda Waller for leads to get back to his universe as long as he helps her out in various things like making portkeys._

 **Black Thorn / Thorne, Elizabeth –** She went from rich, partying socialite to becoming a CIA agent. Deciding that she wanted her freedom, she faked her death and became a costumed vigilante. She met and fell in love with the Vigilante II. But it all fell apart when he briefly went insane and then killed himself, leaving her to pick up the pieces of her life. _For this story,_ _Amanda Waller helped Black Thorn find purpose again._

 **Blue Devil / Cassidy, Daniel –** Daniel Patrick Cassidy is a special effects wizard and stuntman hired to create and play the title character in the movie _Blue Devil_. To that end Cassidy creates a full-body costume with a hidden powered exoskeleton and built-in special-effects devices. When two of his co-stars accidentally freed a demon named Nebiros, Cassidy uses his costume to drive the demon back, but not before being blasted with mystical energy. After the fight, Cassidy found that the blast had permanently grafted the Blue Devil costume to his body. Blue Devil wielded a trident of his own design which included, among other things, rocket engines capable of carrying two people at high speeds.

 **Brain, The –** The Brain is the nemesis of The Chief, and by connection also the Doom Patrol, and because of the latter has been left as a brain contained in a jar, and protected by his creation, Monsieur Mallah. He has been after revenge ever since.

 **Bronze Tiger / Turner, Benjamin '** ** _Ben_** **'** – One of the world's greatest martial artists. He was captured and brainwashed by the League of Assassins. Later, after he had been deprogramed by Amanda Waller, he willingly joined her Suicide Squad.

 **Brotherhood of Evil –** A team of supervillains, who work to defeat both the Doom Patrol (especially The Chief) and the Teen Titans. At first it was believed their goal to be world domination, but it's true purpose is to destroy The Chief. Their membership currently is The Brain, Monsieur Mallah, Phobia, Warp, Houngan and Plasmus.

 **Bumblebee / Beecher-Duncan, Dr. Karen –** She created a scientific super-suit while still a teen, and had been a part-time member of the Teen Titans. With her suit she can fly, and has some enhanced strength and durability. She can change her size, project energy, and project sonic blasts.

 **Captain Boomerang / Harkness, George '** ** _Digger_** **' –** Growing up in Australia, Harkness discovered he had an incredible talent when it came to boomerangs. Later, he began making trick boomerangs to help him break the law and to fight the Flash.

 **Clem –** A Loose-Skinned demon, generally non-violent, but when attacked they will defend themselves by releasing multi-colored snake-like tentacles from beneath the skin folds of their face. This kind of demon feeds mostly on emotions, particularly embarrassment.

 **Coldsnap** **/ Darryl** – Due to a lab accident, he found that he has cold powers. He became a mercenary to raise the money needed to determine how to remove his and his girlfriend's powers.

 **Count Vertigo / Zytle, Count Werner** – The child of the deposed rulers of the European country of Vlatava. He is one of Green Arrow's arch nemeses. He uses a device implanted in his head to disorient his foes, and can fly. He also suffers from a severe bi-polar disorder.

 **Craemer, Father Richard –** The priest that had been stationed at Belle Reve.

 **Deadshot / Lawton, Floyd –** Deadshot is one of the world's finest assassins, well-known for his expert shot Marksmanship, and near perfect track record. He's only missed once while trying to shoot Batman. He has been psychoanalyzed to have a death wish, but wants to go out in a bang of glory.

 **Economos, John –** The warden of Belle Reve, the prison that doubles as the secret headquarters of the Suicide Squad.

 **Finn, Riley** – A covert operative for the United States as a part of the Initiative. Also a former boyfriend of Buffy Summers.

 **Giles, Rupert** – Buffy's Watcher, Giles, has the duty to direct Buffy in the use of her Slayer abilities and do his best to keep her alive. He has also become a surrogate father to her.

 **Grant, Vicki** – A user of the legendary H Dial along with her friend Chris King. The H Dial allowed her to turn into never before seen heroines that had a wide variety of powers and abilities.

 **Harris, Alexander '** ** _Xander_** **'** – One of Buffy's closest friends, Xander supported her through many of her worst times, and remained at her side from the first day she arrived at Sunnydale.

 **Heatstroke** **/ Joanne** – Due to a lab accident, she discovers that she has heat powers as well as the ability to fly. She became a mercenary to raise the money needed to determine how to remove her and her boyfriend's powers.

 **Herald, The / Duncan, Malcolm '** ** _Mal_** **'** – Mal was the wielder of the Gabriel Horn and has been a member of the Teen Titans.

 **Houngan / Droo, Jean-Louis –** Jean Louis Droo, Haitian born but schooled in America, and worked as a computer scientist. Returning home for a family emergency, he found that modern medicine was unable to help his father, but that voodoo cured him. Soon, Droo became a voodoo fanatic, mastering the craft and then merging it with modern computer science, using an electro needle stylus and a computerized voodoo doll.

 **Hyena II / Shi, Jivan** – An Indian psychiatrist who had been bitten by the first Hyena, thereby becoming a type of were-hyena. Very savage. _For this story, he was an early member of Faith's suicide squad, but proved to be too feral and had to be put down._

 **Initiative, The** – A secret United States Government agency tasked with the capture and research of demons for military purposes.

 **Judge –** An ancient demon sent to wipe out humanity.

 **King, Christopher '** ** _Chris_** **' –** He and his friend Vicki Grant found two H Dials that would transform them into previously never seen before superheroes with a wide variety of powers and abilities. Eventually, he had somehow internalized the power of the H Dial and would turn into a new hero every hour, and he sought aid at S.T.A.R. Labs. _For this story, Amanda Waller somehow had gain part of the shell of a cosmic egg which she gave to Chris to help him gain some control over his abilities. Now he mostly transforms into heroes from the Marvel universe, though every now and then he amalgamizes into a hero that is a mixture of his universe and the Marvel universe._

 **Klyburn, Dr. Jenet –** She is one of the lead scientists at S.T.A.R. Labs in Metropolis.

 **Kulak** – Kulak, high priest of the world of Brztal, has tremendous mystical powers, many of which are centered in his third eye. Through his "Whispering death" spell, he can cause hatred to spread around the world almost effortlessly.

 **Lehane, Faith / the Dark Slayer –** Shortly after Faith had become activated as a Slayer by the death of the Slayer Kendra, her Watcher was killed. She went to Sunnydale to join the other Slayer, reveling in her funny, free-spirited nature. But when she actually killed a man, mistaking him for a vampire, her childhood insecurities from various traumas flared, so she framed Buffy for the killing. Eventually, the truth came out, and Faith ended up joining the evil Mayor Wilkins with whom she formed a strange bond with. During another fight with Buffy, Faith had been put into a coma. When she awoke, Wilkins was dead, so she tried getting revenge on Buffy. Finally, Angel, tries to redeem her, so she surrenders herself to the Los Angeles Police Department. _For this story, Amanda Waller recruits Faith for a supernatural version of the Suicide Squad that would take down the magical and demonic threats to the world._

 **Mallah, Monsieur –** Gorilla apprentice and creation of The Brain whose I.Q. had been raised to the genius-level of 178.

 **Murph –** Chain-smoking head of the prison guards at Belle Reve.

 **Nebiros –** A demon freed during the filming of the movie _Blue Devil_. The demon faced off against Daniel Cassidy who was wearing a modified suit of the title character, hitting Cassidy with raw magical energies that ended up bonding him to his suit.

 **Nightshade / Eden, Eve –** Being the only surviving member of the royal family of the Land of the Nightshades, she uses her inherited shadow powers to fight crime and evil. She can teleport herself and others by passing through the Land of the Nightshade.

 **Oracle / Gordon, Barbara** – Barbara Gordon was the first Batgirl until she was brutally shot by the Joker, rendering her paralyzed from the waist down. Barbara reinvented herself as Oracle, providing intelligence to the Suicide Squad.

 **Phobia / Hawkins, Angela–** Angela Hawkins was born into British aristocracy. She has the psychic ability to detect other people's fears and project them with great intensity.

 **Plasmus / Von Furth, Otto –** He was a mine worker in East Berlin, Germany, where he was caught in a cave-in which left him trapped with lethal levels of radiation. Having miraculously survived, he was soon kidnapped by an ex-Nazi known as General Zahl. Zahl experimented on Von Furth's body causing him to mutate into unstable protoplasm. Now his barely formed body can cause a fiery death and cause living creatures to be reduced to burning protoplasm.

 **Quicksilver** – He is a mutant from the Marvel universe with the ability to travel at super-speed. _For this story, Quicksilver is one of the transformations undergone by Chris King._

 **Ragman / Regan, Rory** – Wearing a suit of rags made from the souls of evildoers, Rory Regan patrols the streets of Gotham City dispensing vigilante justice. _For this story, he was a former member of Faith's Suicide Squad._

 **Rayne, Ethan –** A chaos-worshipping magic-wielder who loves causing trouble and often used dark magic. _For this story, Ethan is a minion of Amanda Waller, but he actually likes working with her because of all the chaos she causes. He is also trying to learn the type of magic used by Sirius Black._

 **Rosenberg, Willow** – As a teenager, Willow met and befriended Buffy. Upon discovering that she was the Slayer and what that all meant, she began helping to provide useful research and help in other ways. Later, Willow began to tamper with magic as a defensive measure.

 **Slayer** – a girl endowed with supernatural abilities and destined to battle evil creatures such as vampires and demons.

 **Spike / Pratt, William / '** ** _William the Bloody_** **' –** An infamous vampire, Spike began to help Buffy in battle once he could no longer harm humans thanks to a microchip the Initiative put in his head.

 **S.T.A.R. Labs (Science and Technology Advanced Research Laboratories) –** a nationwide chain of research laboratories unconnected to the government or any business.

 **Suicide Squad** **/ Task Force X** – A team of super-villains running missions for the government in exchange for reduced prison sentences.

 **Sumo the Samurai.** A Japanese super-villain during World War II. During the 1940s he fought against Wonder Woman and later her colleagues in the All-Star Squadron. _For this story, he was a former member of Faith's Suicide Squad. He was also a mentor to Faith and died saving her life. He left her his sword._

 **Vixen / McCabe, Mari Jiwe –** She can channel the abilities of virtually any creature in the animal kingdom through a magic totem.

 **Voorhees, Jason** – Mommy's boy and legendary Crystal Lake 'Slasher', Jason was the multi-homicidal main character of the Friday the 13th franchise. Seeking for vengeance, Jason is considered the most brutal mass killer of all time in the film world.

 **Waller, Amanda '** ** _The Wall_** **'** – She's a hardline top-ranking U.S. Government agent involved in clandestine operations. Despite her non-threatening physical appearance, she is almost universally feared as one of the most ruthless women in espionage and politics. She created and runs the Suicide Squad, and has had a hand in the development of several other government organized groups. _For this story, she started another Suicide Squad to deal with supernatural threats. She also made a stooge of Ethan Rayne. She also made deals for favors with Sirius Black and Chris King._

 **Walsh, Prof. Maggie** – A UC Sunnydale professor, as well as secretly the Director of The Initiative. She was the mentor of Riley Finn, as well as the creator of Adam, who then killed her.

 **Warp / LaSalle, Emil** – A French super-villain. In addition to his ability to fly, Warp can open a Warp or a hole in space between any two locations with which he can teleport himself and others across great distances instantly. However, repeated use of his powers leads quickly to fatigue.

 **Watchers –** The Watchers are a secret guild that have existed throughout history charged with training and maintaining the Slayers.

 **Watchers Council** – The governing institution for both Watchers and Slayers around the world.

 **Wild Dog / Wheeler, Jack** – A former marine, he was tired of the ongoing crime, so he became a vigilante, armed with a Jatimatic GG-95 PDW submachine gun and a pair of electrified "shock gloves", his costume consists of camouflage pants, combat boots, a local college football jersey emblazoned with a snarling red dog (hiding his protective body armor), and a hockey mask to conceal his identity.

 **Willy** ** _'Willy the Snitch'_** – A bartender and the owner of Willy's Place, a Sunnydale bar that welcomed demons, vampires and humans, serving as a neutral place for all sorts of beings.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 **by Ordinaryguy2**

 **Quick note:** _Just wanted to remind everyone. This is basically a DC & Buffy universe crossover. Sirius Black had left his universe by falling through the Veil of Death in Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix, and was stuck in an empty void until the Suicide Squad accidentally came across him. He is providing services to the Suicide Squad in exchange for help to get back to his home dimension._

 _The story is set for in the early 1990's, which is the time I liked the Suicide Squad the most. I will also be using the original Checkmate organization of that time period for support of the characters. I'm also giving a brief rundown on the early Checkmate so you won't get too lost. If you need it, I will have a glossary of the characters at the bottom of the chapter._

 ** _Checkmate_** _is a government "spy" agency with a hierarchy revolving around the pieces in the classic board game, Chess, with Kings & Queens being the leaders, the Bishops oversee missions behind the scenes, the Rooks plan the missions, the Knights carry out the missions and the Pawns are the support staff. The agency was set up by Amanda "the Wall" Waller as its first Queen to serve as a branch of Task Force X, which also included the black ops organization called the Suicide Squad. The Agency was first set up by Amanda Waller to serve as a small branch of Task Force X under the command of Colonel Valentina Vostok (formerly Negative Woman of the Doom Patrol) to perform operations worldwide considered vital to the security of American interests._

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Amanda Waller got to her feet, ignoring the hands offering to help her. She hated portkeys, despite how useful they were. When that interdimensional castaway wizard landed in her hands, after she had confirmed his trustworthiness and after learning about portkeys, she had had him create several for key locations, some of which were trouble hotspots like outside Arkham Asylum, so she could get instantaneous access. Tonight that was really coming into use.

"Give me a report on our current situation?" she demanded, as her eyes scanned the area even as she brushed herself off of the dirt and grass. A large tarp wall encircled them to protect them from view along with two tents on either end. Several Checkmate Knights were checking their equipment while Pawns brought things to them.

"About time you showed up," growled Harvey Bullock while wiping the remains of a sandwich with his sleeve. The rest of the large sandwich lay as an organic paperweight on maps he'd been looking over. "God, I hate this place," he complained with a belch.

Bullock was a plump, rarely shaven or even showered, man, who, before becoming involved as a Bishop in Checkmate, had been a Gotham City Police Detective. As such, he had had several encounters with a good number of the inmates inside Arkham Asylum. He'd been a crooked cop for a while, but later had a change of heart. It was that change of heart, as well as his ruthless nature when it came to apprehending the bad guys, that Amanda Waller had sought him out as a Bishop in Checkmate.

"Where are we in things?" she demanded.

Bullock snorted at her straightforwardness as he was one of the few people working for her that were immune to her bitchy attitude. "Well, the equipment you asked for have mostly arrived by that damn portkey thing you have us using. There are a few more items that are being put together before shipping here."

"Anything damaged in transport?" she asked.

"Not really. Though the trip here did make most people land ass over teakettle."

"I did warn you that that would happen," stated Sirius Black, not holding back his grin. "Especially on the first few times someone travels that way."

"I loved it!" exclaimed a jovial Ethan Rayne, slapping Sirius on the back. "I always love it! Are you sure I can't learn that spell?"

Sirius suppressed a groan that was almost brought on by the over enthused chaos mage. "I can try teach you again, I suppose. However, I still don't think that my type of magic will work for you."

Annoyed Waller turned to those that had arrived with her from S.T.A.R. Labs. "All of you, go to the banquette table and get your fill. I have a feeling you are going to need all the energy you can get."

Sirius headed for the table of food and began to fill his plate, introducing himself to the others already foraging. Ethan had to go check on something else, but Chris King followed after Sirius. The last two, one in a yellow and red costume and the other one dressed in blue and white, who went by the code names Heatstroke and Coldsnap, exchange hesitant looks before doing likewise. Two Checkmate Pawns using a trolley suddenly arrived with a large wooden box on the portkey landing zone.

"What's in there?" asked Bullock.

"A robot loaned out by S.T.A.R. Labs," Amanda answered while watching another Pawn direct his cohorts as to where to unload the box.

"A robot? Jeez!"

"And not just any robot, but one that fought during World War II. It's known as J.A.K.E 2, which stands for Jungle Automatic Killer – Experimental Number 2. You have probably heard of it as the G.I. Robot. Our science division has been working on creating a modern version, but say it'll be years before they have a complete model ready for testing."

They watched the Pawns move toward the ramp of a backed up semi-truck that had several computers and scientific equipment lining its walls.

"What the hell was S.T.A.R. Labs going to do with a robot that old?" he asked.

"Believe it or not, they were having some of their new interns working on it in order to get it running again. Which they did. They claimed to have been able to restore all of its functions, including its weaponry. As outdated as its weapons are, they are still lethal."

"They armed it?" Bullock gritted his teeth at their stupidity. "What the hell were they thinking? What if it had started running amok?"

"They're scientists," she reminded him. "Think about how many scientists have created some incredibly dangerous device only to either use it to become a super-villain, or it somehow lands in the hands of a potential wanna-be super-villain. Most of these brainiacs have closed themselves in their lab for so long they forget about the consequences in the real world."

Bullock nodded. "You're preaching to the choir, sister."

She chose to ignore the ' _sister_ ' comment. "Any word from the White Queen?"

"Vostok in en route from Paris. She still doesn't trust you portkey travel plan. Being tossed around like that I don't blame her. She says you have full charge of this event."

"And that means full responsibility if thing blows up in all our faces," she said snidely. "Now who all do we have here?"

Bullock was used to her straight-to-the-point attitude, and had no problem working with it. "The tent to the north has those mercs you called in." He paused before turning for her. "You sure we want to deal with them? Most of them are on the top of the most wanted lists. They are only here because of the hundred thousand bucks you offered for showing up. Plus, the amnesty you offered as part of the prize if they took the deal was also a big motivator."

"Who showed?" She held out a hand for the folder he held out for her.

"First was a dog trainer called Hellhound. The others must have been waiting to see how we received him before they trickled in. Next was Tommy Monaghan, a glorified hitman. He got some powers a while back. Now he has x-ray and telepathy which he uses to kill metahumans with contracts on their heads."

"I've thought about getting him on the squad before," Waller admitted.

Bullock frowned. "When you get a notion in your head, you usually go for it. I've seen this guy's stats. What kept you from snapping him up?"

"The telepathy," she admitted. "But now we have the telepathic blocking chips," she said as she tapped the side of her head.

"The damn thing still itches from time to time," Bullock grunted, scratching at the small scar on his forehead.

"Get over it. Who else came?"

"A metahuman assassin by the name of Deadline. Sniper, flies, very durable to the point of almost being invulnerable, but can also make himself and whatever he's touching immaterial."

"I read his chart. His biggest problem is his overconfidence in his abilities. Against normal people he wins hands down, but faced with other supers, he doesn't do so well."

Harvey sniffed and rubbed his nose. "So you want us to cut him loose?"

Waller provided him with a grimace. "Hell no, we need all the help we can get."

Shrugging, he moved on to the next name. "We also had that robot villain of Superman's show up. Metallo."

"Cyborg, not robot. There is an organic brain controlling it."

He rolled his eyes. "Forgive me fer not speaking politically correct," he said with sarcasm. "He's just a psycho in a can to me. Anyway, he's got a strong, metal body that should be real useful for this situation."

She gave a hint of a nod before flipping to the next page. "Lady Shiva?" She gave Harvey an incredulous look. "I think our chances of success just increased."

"Yeah, she said she was intrigued that you had put out a call to her."

"Oracle must have gotten ahold of her somehow." Waller put down the folder to pour a quick cup of coffee for herself.

"Careful, it's damn strong stuff," Bullock warned.

"I'm going to need it," she responded, pouring in a healthy dose of creamer.

"Well, we also got that famous bow-wielding assassin as well," Bullock said, getting back to task.

"Merlyn? Excellent!"

"Great? He's just a killin' version of the Green Arrow, minus the gimmicks."

"Merlyn rarely uses gimmicks." See perused down the sheet of intel that had on the bowman. "Besides, remember what we are up against. Arrows travel very quickly over a distance, and, even more important, can be made of wood."

Bullock grunted with a grimace. "I see your point." He let her flip the page before saying anything else. "This next one is a blond beauty, and just as lethal. English aristocratic mercenary with a taste fer swords and such."

"Lady Vic, yes. I've read about her. She prefers old fashion weaponry. Should be good with a crossbow as well as hacking and slashing."

"Yeah, she's not a very sweet young thing," Bullock scoffed. "Neither is the next lady."

She looked at the next page, and scowled. "Cheshire!"

"We've taken all the usual precautions and then some," he stated, hold his hands up so that she would wait to hear him out before continuing her rant. "Besides, that tent is the special one that Black magiced up for us. Those that have entered without having a charmed poker chip, are somewhat more patient, and they will eventually discover that they can't leave until we let them."

"I'd give them five minutes tops, if they truly wanted to get out of there," Waller growled as an internal debate rose within her. Cheshire could be of real use to her in storming Arkham, but how could she offer amnesty to the woman who nuked a nation just to prove that she was willing to use the weapons she had stolen. True, Qurac was an extremely corrupt nation that was a major supporter of terrorism. But even so, Cheshire had to be insane to think that even Amanda had to authority to give her amnesty. Hell, Amanda could get herself locked up just for talking to the mass murderer. "Damn, I hope this mission kills her."

"Hopefully the whole team of them will live up to their name and be an honest to goodness suicide squad this time," came Bullock's opinion.

She snorted, half amused. "We should be so lucky."

She turned to the final sheet and just stared at the photograph attached to it. "Deathstroke the Terminator."

"Your Oracle got ahold of him. Somehow. Two of our Knights almost opened fire as soon as they saw him. If it had been me that seen him, I would have just shot first."

"And have probably got you backside handed to you or shot off," she responded. "And that's if you were lucky."

He growled in response but didn't deny that she was most likely right.

"And the south tent?" she asked. "Heroes?"

"A couple, plus some news people."

"News people?"

"Some reporters that Oracle said you'd want to talk with once she noticed who they were," he said dismissively.

Oracle was one mystery that Amanda Waller could not seem to answer. She had no idea of the identity of the person who identified herself as Oracle, but believed Oracle to be a true ally. She could tell that Oracle had some kind of major grudge against super-villains, well informed, honest. And those were the reasons Amanda was willing to work with her.

"What are these reporters' names?"

"Both are pretty liberal. Both out-of-towners, too. Vic Sage and that nut job - Jack Ryder."

Bullock managed to not shudder as a feral smirk crossed Amanda's face. "I take it that you know them."

"Oh, I do," she said with a honeyed tone. "That is I know of them. Who else is in there?"

"Your old pal Mark Shaw, the Manhunter. Also that psycho Peacemaker. And not to surprising –considering our location– some of our Knights came across one of the Bat Family as she was checking out the dome over Arkham. Took some doing, but they managed to bring her in."

"Batgirl?" Amanda asked in surprise.

"Naw, no one has seen her in years. Batman probably got her killed fighting one of his multitude of crazy antagonists. Naw, the Knights brought in the Huntress."

"I see. Yes, she is acceptable, too. Probably better since she uses a crossbow." Her eyes regarded the tent in consideration. "I wouldn't put it past her if she let the Knights capture her so she could be brought in."

The portly man considered that for only a moment before nodding. "Yeah, Bats would have done that, too. I did think it odd that she only incapacitated two of our men before going down."

"It is obvious once you think about it. But now we can use it to our advantage."

"You ready to talk to them?"

She glanced hard at the folder in her hand for a moment, running facts and figures through her head. "Yes, we can't wait any longer."

"I got some of the Pawns putting together one of Rayne's communication portals over this way. Your image and voice will be projected into the tents so they won't get a chance to kill you as you give them the news of what they are here for."

"Definitely a bonus. I want to talk to the vigilantes first."

Bullock's face took on a feral grin. "Now that I want to watch."

She understood Bullock's dislike for capes; the so-called heroes were able to break all the rules that he and every other cop had to abide by, sometimes to the point that crucial evidence gets thrown out, and the perpetrators get off with barely a slap on the wrist for their crimes. It was bad enough that prisons were like revolving doors to the scum of the Earth, giving criminals even more legal loopholes to get out of jail scot-free.

At least with her program, the scum of the Earth have an opportunity to eliminating some of the greater dangers that pose a threat to mankind, with the added bonus of her operatives also dying in the process and no longer being a bane to society as well.

Bullock led her behind a large tarp blind where Ethan Rayne was belittling some Pawns as he corrected some glyphs that had been scraped into the ground around a circle. "What good is it going to do The Wall if she isn't able to see or hear those that she is threatening? And here, this here, why would we want an enlarged view of her ear?"

The Pawns shuffled nervously, until a young woman of the group spoke up. "That was supposed to be so she could hear them whispering to themselves. I guess we made a mistake when we chose to-"

A dramatic groan came from Ethan. "You all are going over glyphs, runes and totems again this week, providing anyone is still alive that is. Now get out of here! It's time for the master to work his magic!" He ended by jumping up and throwing pieces of chalk at their retreating forms.

"You have quite a way with your students," Amanda remarked.

"They're imbeciles!" he ranted. "You-you can't just teach magic to anyone; even if they are brilliant! I mean, if that were true, then Lex Luthor would be the arch mage of the world. But he's not, because magic doesn't work for him."

A hand held up brought him to a stop. "I don't have time for your outbursts, Ethan. If we are all still around next week, I'll have you check out our Pawn pool for those you find suitable for training, alright?"

"That's all I ask," he said in an unusually humble tone that annoyed her even more.

"Now is your communication/voodoo thing ready?"

While he did wince at her word choices, he did nod. "Just a sec." He drew a few more intricate designs on the ground before standing up and taking a step back to check his work. "Yeah, yeah, that will do it." He then went and stood between two large medieval style braziers. "Ok, now when I get the fire going, you will see them in the brazier, and at the same time the corresponding brazier in the tent will also lite up and they will see you. This one-" He patted the brazier on his left. "-should be the tent with your caped crusaders. And the other one goes to your murdering mayhemers. That is unless your three stooges got them mixed-up."

"Let's find out. Where am I supposed to stand?"

"Carefully get into the middle of the circle without messing up any of the writings."

Giving the warning growl, Amanda stepped into the circle, then made sure she was facing the two. Putting her hand behind her back, with her head held high, she gave Ethan the nod to light the braziers.

The flame flared up over five feet, shifting from red to blue to green before images began to form among the flames. Five figures were cautiously watching her from their side of the fire, with only the Huntress and Peacemaker pointing weapons at her.

"Ease up, everyone. Let me explain what is happening here."

"What you are doing is interfering with the press," stated one of the men in a casual suit. "We were well within our rights standing at the police barricade. You had no right to single us out."

The other man in a suit sported a wicked grin. "What my colleague Sage here is trying to say is that our news stations could sue you for impeding the news about what is really going on behind that black dome covering Arkham Asylum."

"A cover-up? Really? That all you two liberal-disc jockeys have for me." A menacing smile grew on her face making the two newsmen appearing in the flames take a step back. "Do you really want me to answer your _question_ , Mr. Vic Sage? Or how about you, Mr. Jack Ryder. You are quite the _creep_ , but I could explain things just fine to you."

Both men seemed sullen, but quieted as they tried to determine something that they didn't want to ask.

"Yes, I know your secrets. I've known for quite a while, I just never had reason to exploit it before now."

"I don't know what-"

"You are otherwise known as the faceless Question, just as Jack here is the maniacal Creeper," she stated flatly.

Both men stood stock-still as they took in their predicament. The Huntress, however, was not having any of it. "What the hell do you think you are doing?" she bellowed. "If they are who you say they are, then you have no right to-"

"I have every right!" shouted Amanda Waller, expressing more feeling then she normally would. "I have just chosen not to enforce that right, until now, because I actually supported their effects in taking down criminals and terrorists."

"Just tell them what you want, Amanda." The Manhunter stood near the back, leaning casually against a support pole with his arms crossed. He was a blue and red outfit that hid much of his light armor, and wore a light blue, metal mask that was composed of alien technology derived from the Manhunters. The Manhunters themselves were androids created by the Guardians of the Universe in a failed attempt to create a universal police force. The Manhunters had rebelled, but still struggled to follow their original programing of hunting people down. Mark Shaw had been brought into an ancient segment of the group running on Earth by his uncle. It wasn't until later, when Mark saw just how diabolical the group actually was, that he was able to break free of their clutches with the help of the Justice League of America. Still, the Manhunters had left their influence on him, and he had soon gone against the Justice League and had been arrested for it.

"So you know her?" Jack Ryder rounded on him. "Are you working for her, Little Boy Blue? Are you her plant in the tent?"

"Name's Manhunter, Ryder. And I have worked for her in the past. But I don't know anything about this job except that it is big."

"You were on her Suicide Squad detail," Peacemaker finally spoke. "The Agency I worked for helped your group take down Kobra."

"Suicide Squad?" Vic Sage's voice caught the other's attention. "Is that the secret government group otherwise known as Task Force X that no politician will acknowledge?"

"The secret work-release program for super-villains?" Jack Ryder said gleefully, his reporter instincts kicking in to gear.

"You two seem to have an idea of how things work," Amanda said with a slight nod. "That being said, you now know why I am talking to you.'

"Arkham," Peacemaker said, tightly gripping his ultrasonic pistol. "What's the plan?"

"Plan?" snapped Ryder. "I haven't admitted or agreed to anything! Neither has Sage!"

Manhunter shook his head. "Trust me, Ryder, you do not want to go against The Wall."

The Huntress put a gentle hand on Ryder's shoulder. "We should at least hear what she has to say? You are reporters, after all? Aren't you curious what this is all about?"

"Listen, doll. I don't-"

"I want to hear," Sage finally said.

Fuming, Ryder plopped down on to a chair with his hands crossed, looking angrily at everyone.

I'm glad we are all being mature about this," Waller stated. "But I'm going to need you two to change into your working clothes. I'm going to connect to another group so that I can speak to everyone at once, and I'm sure you don't want them to see you in your civilian identities."

"Wait, you want us to work alongside villains?" demanded Sage, hotly.

Amanda regarded the rising hostility in the room, and chose to defuse the situation fast. "In a perfect world, nobody would have to fight anyone. Or if a situation occurred that needed a more powerful hand, I would have dozens of Supermen and Wonder Women that I could just send out to fix the problem. But this ain't a perfect world. And as Huntress could probably tell you, most of the super-heroes on the planet took off into outer space to take on some unknown adventure. And that leaves me in a big mess to fix, and I can't be too choosy about who I can use. Now when you see this other group I need you to work with, try not to immediately kill each other. At least not until the threat to all life on the planet is dealt with, please."

Amanda motioned for Ethan to cut the transmission so he dumped a bucket of water over the fiery brazier, sending up smoke and steam.

"Alright, now the bad guys, Rayne." The grinning sorcerer lit a match and put it to the flammable material in the second brazier. The flame went through the same colors as had the other one before shapes began to appear in the fire.

"-the hell is this?" A red clad figure backed away from the brazier on his side along with three attack dogs that he had on a leash.

"Someone finally decided to talk with us, Hellhound," the silky smooth voice of Merlyn explained from where he had been crafting several new arrows.

"About time," grumbled a large, metallic form. "This tent is freaking me out."

"It's obviously magical," Lady Shiva explained to Metallo. "The natural rules of nature are bypassed, which is probably confusing your sensors."

"A tent should not be bigger on the inside than it is on the outside!" Metallo shouted. "It goes against physics!"

"That's magic," Lady Shiva said dismissively.

"It's definitely magical in here." Tommy Monaghan sighed, his eyes alternating between Lady Shiva and across from her, Cheshire. Sitting next to Monaghan was the assassin known as Deadline.

"Where's Deathstroke?" Waller demanded, wanting all of their attention.

"Here, Amanda."

The renown assassin practically appeared out of nowhere, causing Waller to flinch, making some of the rowdy bunch break out in laughter.

"Slade," she growled. "Even in this setting, you can catch me by surprise."

"What are we all here for?" he asked coolly.

"Straight to the point. I like that about you."

"Time can mean life or death." Tension seemed to meet as the two of them stared at each other.

"Sheesh! Do you two need to get a room or can we get on with this?" came a gripe from the across the room. When the two glared at him, Tommy Monaghan, otherwise known as the Hitman, just smirked and shrugged his shoulders.

"He's right. You two need to stop focusing on each other and explain the mission to us." Lady Shiva didn't even to bother acknowledging the glowering looks aimed at her; instead she remained focused on sharpening her blades.

Cheshire twirled one of her poisoned blades, then tossed it up in the air only to catch it by the tip of the blade. "They would make a cute couple; but I still have to wonder why she would need all of our talents."

Amanda rounded on the woman in the projection. She wanted to order the woman's termination. She even thought briefly of offering each of the mercs in the room two million dollars each if they were to eliminate Cheshire right then and there.

But, no, she needed all the resources she could get.

"Alright," she said. "The first thing you need to know is that you are not the only ones that I've managed to get together for this mission. In just a few moments you will be meeting the others that you will be fighting alongside."

"They any good?" inquired Deadline.

"You could say that they are usually on the winning side of any altercations with your kind," she alluded.

"You're talking about those damn superheroes, aren't you?" Lady Vic spoke, her tone scathing and harsh, amplified by her aristocratic English accent. "Well, then I am so out of here!"

Amanda's smirk would have caused the Cheshire Cat to be envious. "I'm afraid you don't have that choice anymore." She glanced back at Deathstroke who was just watching her for now. "I'm sure some of you have heard of the methods I use to ensure compliance."

The answer came from the almost regal Lady Shiva. "You use some sort of explosive wrist bracelets."

For a moment Amanda wondered where she had heard about the explosive bands, but dismissed it as trivial at the moment. "We use something else now. Nanites. Microscopic robots which will explode if certain conditions are not met. We waited a while before I came in here so that the nanites could get past Metallo's brain shielding."

"You stuck nanites in my brain?" Metallo cried out, horrified, his hands grasping his metallic skull-like casing.

"Explosive nanites," Waller emphasized, making sure she had all of their attention. She let them stew in their dilemma as she stood there boldly, secretly glad that none of them called her on her bald-faced lie. In another year or so it wouldn't be a lie as it was a project she had several scientific groups working or manufacturing for her.

"Now despite how you feel, it is in your best interest to try and work together with the heroes."

The Hitman, the only one to look even slightly amused, finally asked, "What the hell is this job anyway?"

"Let me bring in some of our newly arrived heroes so I can explain it to you all together." She signaled Ethan who relit the first brazier and then connected them with a metallic thread.

For Waller, the flames quickly allowed the occupants of the first tent to appear, only Jack Ryder and Vic Sage were now in their other outfits as the Creeper and the Question.

The second braziers in both tents had also ignited, and thus gave the five heroes and nine villains a chance to eye each other.

"Could have been worse, I guess," came Deathstroke's comment.

"Careful, mortal," growled the Creeper. "Or I will have to-"

"Behave," scolded Waller, her tone cold and unforgiving.

The Creeper looked as if were sucking on a lemon after she scolded him.

"Now the reason I went to such great lengths to get you all on the Suicide Squad has to do, as I am sure none of you are surprised, with Arkham Asylum. As you know all know, two days ago an impenetrable black dome has appeared over the asylum, cutting it off from the rest of the world. Yesterday, a similar dome covered over Blackgate Penitentiary. What you most likely don't know is that Belle Reve Penitentiary in Louisiana, another meta-human prison, was similarly encased with a black dome an hour ago."

"Do you know what's going on inside the domes?" Manhunter inquired. Of those present, he was the less phased by having to work with someone from the opposite side of the tracks.

"Yes, and it's not good. Somehow or other, shortly before or after the dome appeared, _vampires_ took over Arkham."

"Is this some kinda sick joke?" demanded Deadline.

"No joke," she responded flatly.

"Excuse me," the Question said as he raised his hand. "But if this dome is as impenetrable as everyone claims, where did you get your information from?"

She gritted her teeth, not wanting to give up her source, but on the other hand, she needed them to believe her so that they would try all the harder to stop what she knew was coming. "Someone came from the future to give me this information, to stop it before it began."

"What? Did they forget to punch in the right date to come back to in their time machine?" joked the Hitman, making Hellhound, Metallo and Cheshire chuckle.

"There were complications upon arrival," Amanda disclosed. "Thereby the information didn't get passed to us until it was too late to do much about the first three domes. In the soon to be future, several other penitentiaries were similarly covered by domes – Iron Heights, Stryker's Island and so on. On the seventh night of Arkham being covered, someone was able to open a hole inside one of them. A couple vamps popped out, one of which you all would know as the Scarecrow."

"They are turning people into vampires?" Peacemaker shouted with the emotion of an overzealous Crusader who had just heard that the Muslims were on the march again.

Amanda ignored the outburst, and continued with her disclosure. "Some of the vampires were captured and interrogated. It seems that there are interdimensional tunnels inside the domes that lead from Arkham to Blackgate to Belle Reve. How many prisons were they planning to take over before they moved onto the next stage of their plan, the vamp minions didn't know. But they did know that the overall plan was for the vampires to take over the Earth by storm. To make it into a vampire planet."

Some were shocked into silence, while others were swearing as if their life depended on it.

"Shut up, all of you!" she bellowed. She glowered at them, establishing her alpha bitch role. "Now I'm going to have someone get you from your tents. Don't try leaving them yourselves since there is magic involved. There's a buffet for you that need to grab something to eat, and shortly we will be having some specialists give you a run down on some of the things you can expect from vampires."

A snort of amusement came from Deadline. "I think we have all seen enough vampire movies to know how to take one down."

"Must build your confidence thinking you can kill off a cinema vampire," snarked the Creeper. "Still, just in case maybe you should come with the rest of us and learn what it takes to destroy a real bloodsucker."

"Enough!" The anger in Amanda Waller's eye was enough to even give these dangerous individuals reason to pause. "Now I'm sending someone in to get you. You will all come out and be on your best behavior, or so help me God, I will blow one of you up just to make an example!"

She signaled Ethan who quickly put out the fires in the braziers.

"That was truly a wonderful, inspirational spe-"

"Don't make me regret not killing you, Ethan."

The loud noise of a helicopter came overhead before landing near a clearing on the outside of the tarp wall that had been set up, causing some of the tarp to flap about roughly as it tried to tear away.

"Somebody tell me who that is," Amanda barked. One of the nearby Pawns started talking over their headset in response to her request.

Meanwhile, Amanda watched as several other Pawns led the five heroes out of their tent as well as the nine villains from the other tent. Amanda made no move to interact with either group. Instead she watched as they met Faith's group and the people Amanda had brought with her from S.T.A.R. Labs. The Hitman was soon hitting on Faith while Blue Devil and Metallo eyed each other as rivals. Hellhound fed his three dogs as he talked to a large baggy-skinned man who was petting the formidable animals, much to Hellhound's surprise. Cheshire and Peacemaker had gravitated over to where some Checkmate Knights were going over equipment with Black Thorn and Riley Finn. Meanwhile, Merlyn was examining the quality of their crossbows, bows and arrows alongside Huntress and some kid that looked like he had just graduated high school. Wild Dog and Terminator gauged the automatic weaponry laid out in crates for them to choose from while the Question, Lady Shiva and Lady Vic considered the multitude of bladed weapons laid across the top of several empty crates while Spike started flirting with the ladies. The Creeper was talking to the criminal couple, Coldsnap and Heatstroke, as well as Sirius Black, and Chris King. Amanda looked around for Deadline until she spotted him coming out of a port-o-potty.

"Wish I had more fighters," she grumbled.

"Your wish is my command," sang out a voice.

Whirling around, she managed to stop her weapon from clearing it's holster when she saw the gaudily harlequinly-dressed James Jesse, otherwise known as the Trickster. He had started out as a circus acrobat who had created shoes that would literally let him walk on air in order to allow him to do spectacular stunts that would draw an audience. Soon after, he decided on a life of crime. He created several dangerous gag gadgets to help him in this enterprise with extreme effectiveness. After years of facing off against the Flash, James had a change of heart, and decided to get on the right side of the tracks. He was soon approached by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a specialist on heroes and villains.

"So, how glad are you to see me?" he said, standing about a foot in the air thanks to his anti-gravity shoes.

Amanda eyed the former-Flash rogue turned FBI agent. "You really don't want me answering that," she stated coolly.

"Aw!" He gave an over dramatic look of despair. "But I came bearing gifts."

She gave him a wary look, but felt somewhat secure when she noticed five of her Knights forming an impromptu guard around her. It was then she noticed the large golden man in armor coming behind the Trickster. "Goldface," she said in recognition. Keith Kenyon, a.k.a. Goldface, had once drunk a gold-based serum which gave him super-strength, invulnerability as well as turned him the color of gold. Naturally, he decided that he was perfectly suited to defeating Green Lantern. And yet that dream never seemed to come to fruition. Later he tried his hand at going against the Flash, but that never worked out either. So after doing his time in prison, he decided to instead to devote his time a being a union rep leader.

"You brought him?"

The Trickster shrugged. "I got a call from Oracle; she said you needed some help. At the time I was investigating our former-super-villain turned labor union leader on some shady dealings-"

"I keep telling you that I was not a part of that!" the former villain barked. "I was putting a stop to it when you butted in!"

"You were trying to cover it up," Trickster pointed out as he jogged a circle in the air. "That would still make you an accomplice."

"People's lives would have been ruined! Some of them innocent!"

Trickster chortled. "And yet it was you that didn't want to tell it to a judge."

"I was trying to fix it for the innocent people that would have been affected!"

Amanda could see where this was going. "So, James, I take it that once Oracle got a hold of you, you confronted Goldface, telling him he could help out on this mission, and then you would make this other matter disappear, am I right?"

"You read me like a book, Mrs. Waller," he said, giving a mock bow.

Waller spied two other men coming around the tarp that had evidently also flown in with the Trickster and Goldface.

"Ah, these are two friends of mine that came to answer my call for help. You may know them as the Pied Piper and Heatwave."

The Pied Piper was dressed in green ragged outfit while Heatwave's was more of a white thermal suit used to protect people from extreme heat. Amanda knew of both men, both had a loosely-termed probation that still allowed them to use their unique talents in public, but only when helping people.

"Gentlemen, if you do good by me in this undertaking, it could very well help you in the future. Please, grab something to eat. We will be making an announcement soon."

"That's a lot of costumes," Pied Piper remarked. "And from both sides of the fence."

"Yeah," Heatwave acknowledged. "Hey, look at the hot, flaming babe over there! Now that's what I'm talking about!"

"Ohh, I don't think so," Piper said upon seeing who his friend was talking about. "That's Heatstroke of the Masters of Disaster. That guy below her in the white and blue costume is Coldsnap; he's either her boyfriend or husband."

"She has flame powers and he's got some kinda cold powers? That's got to mess with the relationship."

"It is rather tragic," admitted the Piper. "As I understand it, they aren't even able to touch one another due to their powers reacting badly with the other person."

"Sounds like a relationship on the rocks to me," Heatwave gleefully said.

Piper groaned. "You aren't going to do anything stupid, are you?"

"Hey!" He held up his hands apologetically. "Don't blame me; I'm just a moth drawn to the flame."

The Pied Piper groaned again, then separated from his friend to make his way to the food.

Meanwhile, Waller's attention was on the last two people that had evidently ridden in the helicopter. While the man smoking a cigarette wore a well-designed business suit, the most noticeable thing about him was that he was entirely invisible except for his skeleton. His companion was female, and while she appeared to be four or five years old, Waller knew that she was actually the same age as the man. Both were the results of a mad genius named Dr. Love who had experimented on fetuses growing in the womb while working in the position of several young mothers OB/GYN. Once they were born, he took the babies away from their mothers to raise himself, documenting their characteristics until they were in their upper teens and he left them to fend for themselves. With no means to support themselves, the six teens decided to embark on a career as supervillains, forming their own team called Helix.

The skeletal appearing man was simply known as Mr. Bones while the child-sized female was called Baby Boom. Mr. Bone's mutation did more than simply make his skin, flesh and blood invisible, it make him super-strong and he secreted cyanide through his skin to the level that it was lethal to touch him. He also walked with a limp due to having an artificial leg, his leg having been bitten off years before. After his group had been captured, he had been paroled into the hands of the group Helix had constantly fought against, Infinity, Inc.. Despite initial annoyance, he begrudgingly began to like the team, and stayed until he was forced to kill their leader, Skyman. Somehow after that, Mr. Bones became Regional Director for the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S. Department of Extranormal Operations (D.E.O.), and as a D.E.O., Director Bones tries to monitor and regulate the actions of the superhuman community.

The small girl-like figure beside Director Bones was known simply as Baby Boom. She was apply names since, not only did she look like a very young child due to her mutation, she had the ability to explode things with her mind.

"I'm glad to see you, Director Bones," stated Amanda.

"Stow it, Waller," growled Bones. "You and I know that I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for that Oracle person you have working for you." He took a deep drag off of his cigarette. "I don't know how you found out about that incident, but I don't like being blackmailed."

Amanda kept from reacting to this news, but managed to quickly put together the conclusion that Oracle had something on Bones, and was able to blackmail him into joining her mission team.

"Serves you right!" snarled the child-like Baby Boom. "You're a bloody traitor for forcing me to come on this!"

It was only then that Amanda noticed that Baby Boom had a power neutralizing collar around her neck.

"Damn it, Babe, I was forced to bring you! How many times do I have to tell you that?" snapped Bones. "If you hadn't blown up that instructor last month, maybe I wouldn't have been forced to bring you!"

"Hey, Craig totally rejected my advances on him! I had every right to explode him!"

"You blew him up because he was a decent guy who wasn't into kids! Besides, he was married and had a kid of his own!"

Baby Boom's only response was to stick out her tongue and blow a raspberry.

"Enough!" snapped Waller. She pointed over to the buffet to which the two former Helix members moved towards.

"Oh, those two will be fun," Amanda murmured to herself. "I'll definitely have to thank Oracle for this when I get a chance." She also made a mental note to find out what it was that Oracle had over Director Bones that made him comply to her wishes.

"So, Amanda," Trickster spoke as he walked down in the air to her level. "What can you tell me about Oracle? Is she hot? Is she single? Is she really a she?"

Amanda ignored him and stormed away, muttering about how stupid men were.

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"So, can either of you two help him out?" Faith Lehane asked. "I'd prefer it if he didn't die."

Ethan Rayne and Sirius Black stood on either side of a very nervous Xander Harris. They had a little privacy from a tarp wall, but that was it.

" _Now_ you are worried about the possibility of my untimely demise?" quarreled Xander Harris. "After you personally draft me onto a team called the ' _Suicide Squad_ '?"

"Desperate times, Xandman," she simply said.

"And the desperate measures are my ass!"

"Ohh, you've grown some teeth since I last saw you," she chuckled.

"Would you mind not antagonizing one another," barked Sirius. "Ethan and I are trying to focus here."

Black had performed some complex diagnostic spells on the results with were shown in archaic writing in the air above Xander. "Hmm, if I'm reading this right, young Xander here has been under several possessions."

"Uh, yeah, but that is like ancient history, man."

"Once by a vampire." Sirius raised a critical eye.

"Oh, yeah, I kinda was briefly a thrall to... Dracula."

Faith swore, and wanted to kill something, or at least hit something or someone a lot.

Ethan Rayne was giddy at the news. "You were under Dracula's power and were able to get away? How did you do it and what was he like?"

Xander shuffled nervously. "Buffy got me free, and I don't want to talk about the rest."

"Right, well, you shouldn't have to work about a link to this Dracula anymore," Sirius promised. "I've wiped away the link he left open to you."

"Oh thank God!"

"I'm not a god; just a wizard," snarked Sirius. "Now these other two possessions you've had, one seems human, while the other is a type of feral creature."

Xander nodded. "The feral one is a hyena spirit. I kinda walked into a ritual setting. It influenced me more than took me over. As for the human one, that is probably the ' _Soldier-boy_ ' I turned into thanks to Ethan."

Ethan nodded to that. "Ah, yes! That Halloween spell I performed at Sunnydale."

"Okay, I'm going to remove the remnants of them from your aura away, too."

"Hold on a moment," Ethan asked, holding up a hand as if to feel the air around Xander. "I may be able to use those to empower Xander somewhat."

"Wait, what now?" Xander asked nervously.

"Xander," and for a moment, Ethan took on an attitude so similar to Rupert Giles that Xander almost did a double take. "I believe that, now that you are older, that you and this ' _Soldier-Boy_ ' persona would overwhelm the hyena remnant still within you. You would be the one in charge, Xander, with the speed, strength and ferocity of the hyena, as well as the knowledge and skills of a trained soldier."

"Sounds like a sweet deal, boytoy," Faith admitted. "And who knows, it might even make you more interesting in the sack, too."

"Hey!" Xander flushed, then lowered his head. "I hear first times are always awkward."

Faith stared at him. "That was your first time?" She looked away feeling an unusual pang of guilt about throwing him out of the room right after. "Well, I guess we will have to schedule a do-over sometime after this."

"Don't do me any favors, Faith."

"Fine." She rolled her eyes, but then looked to Ethan. "Just ' _boost_ ' him up, kay?"

Ethan gleefully took that as the ok to start, and reached into Xander's space and pulled the remained of the 'soldier-boy' persona and the hyena spirit together with Xander's true self, pushing chaos magic into the merging. Xander jumped in surprise as if he'd touched an electric fence, and fell to his feet.

"Ethan!" roared Sirius.

"What?" He just shrugged like he didn't know what was wrong.

"The hell were you thinking, man?" Faith shouted. "What the hell was that?"

Xander, now on his hands and knees, took in a deep breath. They noticed his shoulders starting to shake, and a strange, eerie laughter. He glanced up at Faith with the eye of a stone-cold killing monster.

"Crap," Faith muttered. "What did you do to Xander, Ethan?"

"How should I know?"

An idea crossed Faith's mind. With all the authority she could muster, she practically shouted, "Ten-hut!"

Where before Xander had been laughing on the ground, he now shot to his feet to a full military attention.

"Sergeant Harris, what is your objective today?"

"Sir, to serve on the Suicide Squad and kill vampires, sir!"

"At ease, sergeant."

Xander stood there in a military relaxed stance for a moment, until his eyebrows began to furrow in confusion. "What the hell?"

A sigh of relief came out of Faith. "Glad to see you still in there, Xander."

"Was that supposed to happen?" A confused Xander looked to Ethan for an answer.

Ethan shrugged. "How should I know? I've never done this before. Results seem cool so far though, right?"

Xander literally growled at the man. "If I do go all rabid, I'm choosing you for my chew-toy!" he threatened.

"Xander." Faith took his hand. "I want to see how strong you are now. Give my hand a squeeze." To which she almost immediately began telling him, "Okay, okay, let go! Ow!" She shook her hand to ease some of the pain away. "Okay you clearly have a stronger body than you had before. You are going to have to figure out quickly what you can and cannot do. The problem is we don't have any time to train you."

Xander's nose was in the air sniffing. "I smell bacon! And steak! Oh, and someone even brought doughnuts! And a whole lot more!"

Before anyone could stop him, Xander was almost to the food tables.

"Looks like the hyena took over," remarked Sirius.

"I don't think so," Faith said, shaking her head. I think the over interest in food is all three aspects in him."

"I'm feeling a bit hungry myself," admitted Sirius.

"Fine. Let's get something to eat before Xander eats everything." She straightened and cracked her back. "We have a long night ahead of us."

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 **Next time: Invading Arkham!**

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 **AuThOr'S NoTeS:**

 **This became a rather long chapter, but I wanted to introduce everyone decently. I do plan to cover events happening in Belle Reve as well, but this chapter was just getting too massive. I have about 35 heroes and villains, plus several Checkmate Knights, about to storm into a vampire infested Arkham Asylum. How crazy is that?**

 **GLOSSARY** :

 **Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane** – A prison in Gotham City where many of Batman's enemies are imprisoned for treatment.

 **Baby Boom** \- One of the six genetically mutated children that formed the villain group Helix. Her mutation kept her in the form of a young toddler, while she also received the ability to explode things with her mind.

 **Belle Reve –** A prison in Louisiana specially designed to incarcerate metahumans which also services as the headquarters of the Suicide Squad.

 **Black, Sirius** – A pure-blood wizard with a dog Animagus form. Sirius had been framed for the murder of James and Lily Potter by Peter Pettigrew, and was imprisoned for over a decade without a trial. Then seeing a need to protect his godson, Harry Potter, he escaped. Two years later, he had gone to rescue his godson again, only to be blasted through the Veil of death by his cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange.

 **Black Thorn / Thorne, Elizabeth –** She went from rich, partying socialite to becoming a CIA agent. Deciding that she wanted her freedom, she faked her death and became a costumed vigilante. She met and fell in love with the Vigilante II. But it all fell apart when he briefly went insane and then killed himself, leaving her to pick up the pieces of her life. This led her to Amanda Waller.

 **Blue Devil / Cassidy, Daniel –** Daniel Patrick Cassidy is a special effects wizard and stuntman hired to create and play the title character in the movie _Blue Devil_. To that end Cassidy creates a full-body costume with a hidden powered exoskeleton and built-in special-effects devices. When two of his co-stars accidentally free a demon named Nebiros, Cassidy uses his costume to drive the demon back, but not before being blasted with mystical energy. After the fight, Cassidy finds that the blast has permanently grafted the Blue Devil costume to his body. Blue Devil wielded a trident of his own design which included, among other things, rocket engines capable of carrying two people at high speeds.

 **Bullock, Harvey –** Bullock had been a crooked police detective under instructions from Gotham City's Mayor Hamilton Hill to sabotage Commissioner Gordon's career. His method of doing so was to pretend to be exceedingly clumsy, thereby spoiling whatever Gordon is trying to do, seemingly accidentally. After inadvertently giving Gordon a heart attack, however, Bullock turns over a new leaf. He has a dislike of costumed heroes and villains, though he has some respect for Batman. Later on Amanda Waller brings him in as a Bishop in the spy organization Checkmate. He is well known for his snarky comments, bad hygiene and bad eating habits.

 **Checkmate –** **Checkmate** is a government "spy" agency with a hierarchy revolving around the pieces in the classic board game, _Chess_ , with Kings & Queens being the leaders, the Bishops oversee missions behind the scenes, the Rooks plan the missions, the Knights carry out the missions and the Pawns are the support staff. The agency was set up by Amanda "the Wall" Waller as its first Queen to serve as a branch of Task Force X, which also included the black ops organization called the Suicide Squad. The Agency was first set up by Amanda Waller to serve as a small branch of Task Force X under the command of Colonel Valentina Vostok (formerly Negative Woman of the Doom Patrol) to perform operations worldwide considered vital to the security of American interests.

 **Cheshire / Jade Nguyen –** A deadly international terrorist and one of the world's greatest and most ruthless assassins. Her skills include mastery over physical combat, various weaponry and is an expert on exotic poisons.

 **Clem –** A Loose-Skinned demon, generally non-violent, but when attacked they will defend themselves by releasing multi-colored snake-like tentacles from beneath the skin folds of their face. This kind of demon feeds mostly on emotions, particularly embarrassment.

 **Coldsnap** **/ Darryl** – Due to a lab accident, he found that he has cold powers. He became a mercenary to raise the money needed to determine how to remove his and his girlfriend's powers.

 **Creeper / Jack Ryder –** A left-wing talk show host who is able to transform into a super-strong, super-fast healing, semi-insane maniac hero.

 **Deadline** – A metahuman assassin who flies around on two discs. He usually uses a sniper rifle. His skin is extremely dense making him impervious to pain. He can also phase himself and any object he touched through solid materials.

 **Deathstroke the Terminator / Slade Wilson –** Took part in an experimental super-soldier project that gave him enhanced strength, agility and intelligence. Thus he became the world's greatest assassin/mercenary.

 **Finn, Riley** – A covert operative for the United States as a part of the Initiative. Also a former boyfriend of Buffy Summers.

 **Goldface / Keith Kenyon** – After drinking down a gold-based serum, it gave him superhuman strength, invulnerability, as well as exhibit a golden glow that made him appear yellow. He decided to become a super-villain and went after the Green Lantern, and later the Flash. After years of being defeated by super-heroes, he finally just served his time in prison and reformed. He decided to follow his father's footsteps and became a union leader, rising in the ranks to lead Keystone City's largest labor force.

 **Harris, Alexander '** ** _Xander_** **'** – One of Buffy's closest friends, Xander supported her through many of her worst times, and remained at her side from the first day she arrived at Sunnydale.

 **Heatstroke** **/ Joanne –** Due to a lab accident, she discovers that she has heat powers as well as the ability to fly. She became a mercenary to raise the money needed to determine how to remove her and her boyfriend's powers.

 **Heatwave / Mick Rory** – During a school field trip, Mick had been locked into a slaughterhouse freezer overnight. Upon his rescue the next morning, Mick became obsessed with fire and heat. While still at a young age, he burned down his home, killing his family. He then made a heat gun and wore an asbestos protective suit, used fire to rob and kill. Eventually, Mick went straight, and took a job as a firefighting consultant.

 **Helix** – Helix were a group of six mutated children experimented on in the womb by the deranged Dr. Benjamin Love. As each child was born, he spirited them away, telling their parents they were stillborn, and raised them in secret before disappearing, leaving them with no experience of the wider world and no moral sense. The teenage kids – Mr. Bones, Penny Dreadful, Kritter, Baby Boom, Tao Jones and Arak Wind-Walker – decided to embark on a career as super-villains. They repeatedly clashed with Infinity Inc., until Mr. Bones had taken a deal to keep the others safe.

 **Hellhound / Kai** – An assassin who is an attack-dog trainer and a skilled martial artist.

 **Hitman / Tommy Monaghan** – He grew up in Gotham City and became a hitman. After being bitten by an alien parasite which gave him the x-ray vision and telepathy, which Monaghan used to take on contracts on other super humans.

 **Huntress / Helena Bertinelli –** She blames organized crime for killing her family. To avenge them, she trained and became a costumed vigilante.

 **Initiative, The** – A secret United States Government agency tasked with the capture and research of demons for military purposes.

 **J.A.K.E. 2 (Jungle Automatic Killer – Experimental Number 2 / G.I. Robot –** A replacement for J.A.K.E. 1, it was created to be a fully autonomous mechanical soldier, capable of making decisions and adapting, though still needing a human handler. It is armor plated with its left arm consisting of a fully functional machine gun, mini-torpedoes, and small anti-aircraft missiles. It can even fly short distances due to small rockets in its boots.

 **King, Christopher '** ** _Chris_** **' –** He and his friend Vicki Grant found two H Dials that would transform them into previously never seen before superheroes with a wide variety of powers and abilities. Eventually, he had somehow internalized the power of the H Dial and would turn into a new hero every hour, and he sought aid at S.T.A.R. Labs.

 **Knights** – Knights are Checkmate operatives who as normal human spies with high tech, gold and black armored bodysuits and gear.

 **Lady Vic –** Descending from a line of wealthy English aristocratic mercenaries, she wields the heirlooms of her descendants trade (Flintlock Pistols and various melee weapons) with an exceptional degree of skill.

 **Lady Shiva –** One of the world's greatest martial artists. She is a human weapon living for the thrill of a good fight.

 **Lehane, Faith / the Dark Slayer –** Shortly after Faith had become activated as a Slayer by the death of the Slayer Kendra, her Watcher was killed. She went to Sunnydale to join the other Slayer, reveling in her funny, free-spirited nature. But when she actually killed a man, mistaking him for a vampire, her childhood insecurities from various traumas flared, so she framed Buffy for the killing. Eventually, the truth came out, and Faith ended up joining the evil Mayor Wilkins with whom she formed a strange bond with. During another fight with Buffy, Faith had been put into a coma. When she awoke, Wilkins was dead, so she tried getting revenge on Buffy. Finally, Angel, tries to redeem her, so she surrenders herself to the Los Angeles Police Department.

 **Manhunter / Mark Shaw –** a former member of the Manhunter sect on Earth, he turned on them when he learned they were androids. Shaw served time in prison and joined the Suicide Squad to reduce his sentence. He continued use of his Manhunter gear and became a bounty hunter and hunted costumed criminals for the bounty.

 **Merlyn –** A deadly bow-wielding assassin.

 **Metallo / John Corben –** A con man who was fatally injured in a car accident, Corben was found by a cybernetic specialist Professor Emmet Vale who transferred Corben's brain into a specially designed cyborg body powered by kryptonite. Ever since, Corben has been a professional criminal.

 **Mister Bones / Director Bones** – Bones' pregnant mother was injected by an experimental mutagenic drug by an insane Dr. Love, who took the baby and five others that were similarly treated. He is super-strong, his body is invisible except for his bones, and his skin kills with a cyanide touch. He was the leader of Helix, and often fought against Infinity Inc, and once on trial was paroled into the hands of Infinity Inc. until he was forced to the kill the leader, Skyman. At some point after Infinity, Inc. disbanded, Mr. Bones became Director of a local branch of the U.S. Department of Extranormal Operations (D.E.O.), and as a D.E.O., Director Bones has had numerous interactions with the operations of the superhuman community. His left leg is a sophisticated prosthetic.

 **Oracle / Gordon, Barbara** – Barbara Gordon was the first Batgirl until she was brutally shot by the Joker, rendering her paralyzed from the waist down. Barbara reinvented herself as Oracle, providing intelligence to the Suicide Squad, but not allowing anyone to know who she is.

 **Peacemaker / Christopher Smith** – Traumatized at an early age by seeing his father kill himself and then learning his father was in command of a Nazi concentration camp in Poland, Smith grew up seeing visions of his father speaking to him. After serving in the military, he returned to his rich family holdings. Believing he could make things better, he became Peacemaker, a one-man-army with high tech weapons. Unfortunately, he became mentally ill as he believed that his father's spirit was haunting him and that the souls of all those he could not save lived in his helmet.

 **Pied Piper / Hartley Rathaway –** He was born deaf, but received hearing implants at a young age thanks to his rich parents. He became obsessed with sound. Soon, he discovered a form of hypnotism with music, as well as ways to use vibrations as weapons. Having become bored with his life, he became a super-villain and fought the Flash. After the second Flash died, Hartley retired from crime to become a socialist champion for the poor and underprivileged. He also came out as gay.

 **Question / Vic Sage –** An investigative reporter who felt the need to go out and find answers. He wears an experimental mask that makes him look faceless. He is also a great martial artist and detective.

 **Rayne, Ethan –** a chaos-worshiping magic-wielder who loves causing trouble and often used dark magic.

 **Spike / Pratt, William / '** ** _William the Bloody_** **' –** In infamous vampire, Spike began to help Buffy in battle once he could no longer harm humans thanks to a microchip the Initiative put in his head.

 **S.T.A.R. Labs (Science and Technology Advanced Research Laboratories) –** a nationwide chain of research laboratories unconnected to the government or any business.

 **Suicide Squad** **/ Task Force X** – A team of super-villains running missions for the government in exchange for reduced prison sentences.

 **Trickster / James Jesse** \- James grew up as a circus acrobat. To create a more spectacular act, he managed to make shoes that could literally walk on air. Becoming greedy, he made a gaudy harlequin-ish costume, created several dangerous gimmick weapons, and found himself taken down by the Flash. After years of being defeated by the Flash, James had a change of heart and decided to turn his life around after tricking Neron and helping to save the world. Soon, he was recruited by the FBI, and was considered something of a specialist when it came to the superhero and super-villain communities, especially in regards to the Rogues.

 **Vostok, Valentina / White Queen** – She was a defector from Russia, but in an accident became the host for the energy creature that used to be a part of Negative Man of the Doom Patrol. She became a member of the second Doom Patrol team under the name Negative Woman until the energy creature was taken from her. Later she worked for Checkmate and eventually rose to the position of White Queen.

 **Waller, Amanda '** ** _The Wall_** **'** – She's a hardline top-ranking U.S. Government agent involved in clandestine operations. Despite her non-threatening physical appearance, she is almost universally feared as one of the most ruthless women in espionage and politics. She created and runs the Suicide Squad, and has had a hand in the development of several other government organized groups.

 **Wild Dog / Wheeler, Jack** – A former marine, he was tired of the ongoing crime, so he became a vigilante, armed with a Jatimatic GG-95 PDW submachine gun and a pair of electrified "shock gloves", his costume consists of camouflage pants, combat boots, a local college football jersey emblazoned with a snarling red dog (hiding his protective body armor), and a hockey mask to conceal his identity.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 **by Ordinaryguy2**

 **BELLE REVE PENITENTIARY, LOUISIANA**

The Bronze Tiger rigidly waited for the siren to be silenced so that he could begin speaking into the bullhorn. The yelling from the prisoners in the cellblock made it practically pointless, but the martial artist was determined to be heard. The inmates knew something was going on, and as it was causing conflict for the guards, it had their full approval. The Bronze Tiger, knowing that he was losing crucial time, finally took a shotgun from one of the guards and fired it overhead three times to make them quiet down.

"You are both right and wrong about what is going on outside right now," he said into the bullhorn.

"We know a breakout when we hear one!" came a booming shout from the bulky villain known as Mammoth, excited in the belief that someone was making a fool of all the guards.

"Then you are wrong," Bronze Tiger said into the bullhorn so everyone could hear. "It's not a breakout; it's a break-in!"

"Ha! Then we all have a chance to escape!" the villain known as Bolt called out from his cell.

"Wrong again!" Bronze Tiger said even louder over the growing din. "Because none of you want what is breaking into this prison!"

Bloodcurdling screams and gunfire could be heard in the distance, emphasizing his point to his caged audience.

"Sounds like an invitation to me!" chuckled the Aryan villain known as Iron Cross.

"Some of you have probably heard through the prison grapevine by now about the domes that had appeared over Arkham and Blackgate. One has also appeared over this prison just a little while ago when the sirens first went off."

"I'm not hearing a downside here," Professor Amos Fortune spoke up loud and mockingly, causing laughter to break out among several of the convicts. They all knew people that could make similar noteworthy effects, and were not astonished in the least.

"There is a downside. A huge one," Ben Turner said through the bullhorn. "What is breaking through the prison walls now are all the guards, doctors, nurses, cooks as well as the inmates from Arkham and Blackgate."

"The inmates I can possibly understand," said the second generation Icicle, while leaning against the bars of his cell in a bored fashion. "But why would the others try and break in?"

"Because someone turned them all into vampires in order to make a vampire army, and now they've come here to turn all of us into vampires, too!"

Accusations that he was lying started to rise from throughout the cellblock only to stop when more screams were heard in the distance, along with the sound of breaking glass.

Ben Turner went on, needing to convince them fast. "Right now many of Batman's worst foes have been turned into demonic vampires, and they plan to do the same to you that was done to them! You know some of them, if not personably, then by reputation! Two-Face! Scarecrow! Riddler! Mr. Freeze! Poison Ivy! Killer Croc! Mad Hatter! Bane! And I think even the Joker was in custody when this went down! Do you really want to be stuck in these cages when the blood sucking versions of those monsters come traipsing through here?"

"How do we know that this is not a trick?" shouted the Russian known as Hammer.

"Because I'm going to let you out of your cells so you can fight for your miserable lives! That's why!"

The guards standing around the martial arts hero shifted nervously, hands itching on their rifles. They could hear the death cries of their fellow guards dying horribly somewhere outside the building. The only reason they didn't run for a safe room ( _It's mandatory to have at least three safe rooms for each level of a high security meta-human prison_ ) is because of their boss, Murph, standing beside the Bronze Tiger while calmly smoking his cigarette.

"Listen up, all of you!" Murph shouted. "When the guards come by, hold a hand out of your cell. They will be putting a bracelet on you for control purposes." He held up a technologically advanced bracelet for all to see. Two of the guards nearby had a large cart filled with similar bracelets of varying sizes. "I'm not letting any of you out if I can't keep you from turning on us. So this is your one chance to live."

"We are just supposed to fight for you? Ha! I say we take our chances with whoever is actually breaking in here!" William Heller was growing up as a rich kid when his parents took a wrong turn down a street during a race riot, which led to them being killed. William then went to live with his racist grandfather who had supported the Nazis during World War II. As an adult Heller tried his hand as the costumed vigilante with the name William Hell, targeting Blacks and other minorities, until stopped by the Suicide Squad. Later, Heller started using another alias known as the White Dragon, this time having a powered armor suit and joined the super-villain group called The Fourth Reich.

Murph walled in front of Heller's cell. "You realize that if you stay here, and the vamps break in, they will turn you into another one of them."

"So you say!" Heller said, spitting at the man's feet, before turning to grin at his skinhead cellmate who smirked and nodded in approval.

"I can't allow you to join the ranks of these invaders," calmly stated.

"And what are you going to do about it?" Heller smirked, listening as he enjoyed the rising approval coming from the other cells.

"What I have to." Murph raised his rifle and shot Heller directly in his face.

There was an instant lull as the prisoners took in what had just happened. Followed by a complete uproar.

Murph fired at the ceiling as did some of his guards.

"You have two choices!" Murph yelled. "You can either put out a hand for a bracelet so you can get out of those cages, or I can shoot you in the head! Make your choice, and be quick about it!"

Prisoners all along the cell block began putting an arm out of their cage, including the blood-spattered skinhead that was Heller's cellmate.

Bronze Tiger casually went and stood next to Murph as they watched the prisoners have the armbands placed on them.

"What the hell was that, Murph?" Ben said in a low tone, so only they could hear.

"Just what I said. I ain't leaving any of them alive to become one of those vampire things that are tearing through my guards outside. These prisoners in here are some of the worst in the world. Those that ain't glorified super-villains, either work for them, or work for those other criminal organizations like H.I.V.E., the Kobra Cult, SKULL, Intergang, The 2000 Committee, the League of Assassins, the Church of Blood, or some other blasted evil organization that do not plan on making the world a better place. Allowing them to be turned into vampires would just make them even worse than they are now, and hurt a whole lot more people than they normally would have."

"Waller's not going to be thrilled with what you did to Heller."

"It won't be her that has a problem with it," Murph said, taking another drag of his cigarette.

Ben nodded. "The board will have your head."

"Doesn't matter." He tossed his cigarette onto the concrete floor and stepped on it. "Saw the doc a couple weeks ago. Got cancer."

Ben Turner knew that Murph wasn't one to relay much about his personal life. Even revealing that he had cancer was highly uncharacteristic of him, though not his nonchalant manner in discussing it.

The martial artist grimaced. "How bad? Are you getting treatment for it?"

"Lungs, kidneys, testicles. Doc said I'd be lucky to make nine months. So you see, I have no problem putting down one of these monsters."

The Bronze Tiger grimaced. Cancer was not a good way for anyone to die. "Try to not kill any more of these monsters. We need their help to stop the monsters that are attacking the prison."

Murph nodded slightly even as took out a new cigarette.

 **WOMEN'S WING OF BELLE REVE PENITENTIARY**

Vixen stood tall and fierce, growling even. She had explained the situation to the female inmates who were even now being fitted with explosive bracelets. This wing had a smaller population of prisoners, though they were every bit as dangerous as any found in the male convict population. Some looked at the bracelet that now adorned their wrist with contempt. A few even believed they were too touch to be harmed by it – a fact that Vixen herself wasn't so sure about either. Still, there was a possibility. And no one wants to die by having a hand blown off. A few prisoners they believed that the explosive bracelets wouldn't work on had been inoculated with experimental nano-bombs: these included New Wave, Knockout, Plastique, Orca, and Shimmer.

But even the watchful eyes of their captors, the guards, couldn't watch everywhere, or hear all of the prisoners.

"What are these creatures that are attacking this place?" asked one of the prisoners. She, in particular, was part of a failed alien invasion fleet, who had crash-landed and was left stranded on this backwards world. Fortunately, the inhabitants of Earth were tasty to her, though they didn't like being used as a food source. In a means to relate to the local population, since their vocal cords were unable to say her name, she decided to simply be called Carnivora.

Marlene Simmonds, also known as the second Marine Marauder, had the cell next to Carnivora, and found that the alien meat-eater had designated her as her personal interpreter, whether she wanted the position or not. Simmonds' cellmate, a Kobra scientist, had not been able to speak to Carnivora ever since she woke up one morning to the sight of Carnivora devouring a new inmate that had been celled with her. The female alien had been put into the brig for two months before being returned to general population. After that she had a cell all to herself.

"Vampires," Simmonds began, "are creatures of myth and legend, and can be found mentioned over most of the planet. Basically, they are evil entities that inhabit dead bodies of those that they have slain. They love to inflict pain, and they are kept alive by drinking the blood of the living."

Carnivora gave a throaty laugh that chilled those who heard it to the bone. "They sound amusing to me. And I can smell them from here! They reek of death!"

The Marine Marauder dropped the subject, and instead held her hands outside her cell as she waited for one of the guards to slap one of the bracelets on her wrist.

Before that could happen, however, there was a disturbance at the guards' station by the main entrance. The three guards there were firing down the hall, shouting incoherently.

Vixen raced toward the entryway with the speed of a cheetah, leaping past the guards that had been binding the prisoners. But even she wasn't fast enough to save the three guards, two shot down while the third tackled by a yellowish blur, followed by a gurgled scream and the sound of bones snapping.

Vixen had reached the gate, but couldn't get past the reinforced bars. Even so, the sight before her stopped her cold. A costumed figure that she recognized as Catman was atop one of the guards, tearing into his throat with his bare teeth. The other man tearing into the other two guards she hadn't recognized until she got a good look at his mask that he had removed so that he could feast. The role of the NKVDemon had been passed onto various successors meaning that Vixen had no idea which one this NKVDemon was.

They'd obviously been turned into vampires. But her second thought had been that whoever had broken them out of Blackgate or Arkham must have supplied them with their costumes, and more than likely, their weapons as well.

"Pardon my comrades," came a jovial tone from down the hall. "They'd worked up quite the appetite fighting their way in here."

The man walking up to the guards' desk in a red and white costume that was garish as it was ridiculous.

"And who are you supposed to be?" Vixen asked, coldly.

The man let out a growl even as his mask seemed to bunch up around his forehead. His teeth had become longer and sharper as he gnashed them in the air.

"If I expected you to live, I would tell you to mark this day on the calendar as the day you met the fearsome Calendar Man!"

Vixen only sneered in return. "Seriously? Calendar Man? With all the words in the English language, that's the moniker that you chose to go by?" she goaded.

The gaudy-dressed villain let out a roar, and pounced onto the cell door, rattling it in his anger. A few shrill screams rose from the confined women drew the vampire's attention long enough for Vixen to strike out with the speed of a cobra and grab the calendar themed villain, pulling him roughly into the bars. Calendar Man barely blocked himself so that his head wouldn't smash into the metal bars of the door, nonetheless his costume did tear leaving Vixen with two pieces of his getup. He managed to grab one of her arms, and held tight. They both pulled in opposite direction until the vampire began to emphasis more on savagely squeezing her arm than pulling. She retaliated by using her hand in a slashing motion to break his grip.

Stepping away from the bars, Calendar Man regarded the damage to his supervillain regalia, as well as flexing his injured hand. "You will suffer for that," he growled lowly.

She gently palpated the place on her arm where the vampire had grasped her, noting the bruised discoloration that was already starting to appear on her skin. Looking up, Vixen retorted with a sneer. "I have the measure of your strength now. Other than your gaudy wardrobe, you hold few surprises for me."

Calendar Man glowered at the heroine, then began to smirk. "You want a surprise?" He began to cackle as he went over to the guards' control panel. "How about this for a surprise?"

The doors to the inmates' cells began opening one after another. The guards that had been putting the control bracelets on the prisoners all jumped back and readied their weapons, covering the doorways of the villainesses that were noted for their speed first. The criminals slowly made their way out of their cells. Those already wearing the explosive bracelets, such as Sickle, Rosie the Riveter, Killer Frost, and the Queen of Spades, all held them up to show they were not a threat.

The braceleted villainess were much more varied in their reactions. Hazard, Tiger Moth, Marine Marauder, and the Ten of Spades came out cautiously. Tigress, Jewelee, New Wave, Shimmer, Plastique, Scandal, Jeannette, Killer Frost, Knockout, and Doctor Poison all exited while looking for any advantage they could exploit. Carnivora, Jinx, Queen Bee, Cheetah, and Hyena flat out attacked.

Carnivora and Hyena each took down one of the guards with a savage ferocity, while one of the other guards under attack shot Jinx through the heart when she raised her arms to cast some type of spell which didn't form. Queen Bee had been clipped in the arm by a bullet, knocking her back into one of the other prisoners that the flying bullet had also wounded. Cheetah had rushed Vixen, but the heroine was able to easily knock her back.

Calendar Man shook his head at the villainesses' dismal failure. "No, that won't do; that's still too easy for you."

The calendar-themed villain-turned-vampire examined the controls of his work station. Part of the control panel was sealed under a Plexiglas cover that he promptly tore open. "Ah, here we go." He flipped a switch. "Ah, now that should remove the power dampeners for the prisoners, and give them a fighting chance." He grinned his pointy teeth at Vixen, chortling darkly as he did so.

Vixen managed to leap above a side fountain of water that almost crashed into her, which instead easily went through the bars, striking Calendar Man, and the two feeding vampires behind him. Catman hated the water and slashed at it over and over while trying to get to higher ground, settling for the desk.

The water consolidated quickly into a female body made of water and sporting a neon blue Mohawk hairdo. "Guess I missed," laughed New Wave as she looked at the mess she made. "Oh well, no big deal. You all wash out in the end."

"How dare you!" snarled Calendar Man, trying to climb to his feet, only to fell down due to tripping over his long wet cape. "We freed all of you!" he screeched almost hysterically.

"Yeah, right. I'm sure you did it from the bottom of your rotting, dead heart," snarked the leader of the Masters of Disaster. "You are only here to turn us all into vampires like what has been done to you." She smashed an enlarged watery fist into Calendar Man's vamped out face, knocking him back onto the floor.

NKVDemon howled as he stood up, dripping water. "Enough!" He leapt at the watery villainess, pulling out a bright, smoldering knife from his belt, then plunged it repeatedly into New Wave's back.

New Wave screamed as the phosphorous coated blade went through her, causing steam to rise up from her. Unable to hold her shape, New Wave fell to the floor with a shriek and a splash, then, just as quickly as she had arrived, flowed back into the protected area that the cell block provided to slowly reforming villainess.

Vixen, meanwhile, had regained control of the female convicts. She held up a detonator in her hand, forcing them to back away from her and the four remaining guards. "A majority of you already have explosive bracelets on. And some of the others had explosive pellets placed in their body upon arrival here. To rush me now would mean most of you would be dead or dying. Meanwhile, the few that remained would be all that was left to try hold off the fangs of the living dead coming to tear open your throats." Her eyes narrowed on a redheaded woman glaring at her. "Shimmer, don't even think about transmuting the detonator. It's designed so that it would automatically set off all the other explosive devices in here. Plastique, the same goes for you."

Rosie the Riveter and Doctor Poison turned and gave Shimmer a glare that made the young woman turn away in annoyance. Plastique looked as if she was just waiting to see what happens next.

"So, what now?" asked the Marine Marauder. "Are we all just supposed to take on all these vampires together? Most of us don't even have powers. How are the non-super powered supposed to take on those things?"

Vixen examined the only exit which was starting to fill up with more vampires, all eager to get inside to get at the prisoners. So far none of the new vampire arrivals appeared to be supervillains.

"The plan was to take all of down to R&D so that you could all be armed, and even don your costumes if they are there and there is time."

Jewelee gave a cheer. "I knew they kept our stuff here to study! I just knew it!" she called out while jumping up and down jubilantly. "I can't wait to get my hands on my jewels again! Fun times will be here again!"

Hazard sniffled, wiping her nose as she walked away from the freezing form of Killer Frost. "They must have a similar setup at Arkham and Blackgate. That would explain how Catman and the others have their costumes."

The Cheetah stretched, delicately feeling the areas where she had made contact with the concrete wall, curtesy of Vixen. "So how do we get past all of them?"

Vixen frowned. "We have to go through them."

"Or not," came a voice from the back of the crowd. The prisoners between Vixen and the new speaker parted until Vixen could see Scandal Savage, the daughter of Vandal Savage.

"What do you mean?" Vixen stood warily, ready for any kind of trick.

"To go through them would only become more and more perilous. Three of those monsters were foes of Batman. Foes that trained over and over to go against the Batman. And now Arkham Asylum and Blackgate, the places that caged most of the Dark Knight's archenemies, has been turned into a vampire incubator. You can see what it has done to the regular staff and guards. It's done even more for Catman and the other two over there. Now, I know that Batman didn't have very many super-powered foes, but there were some. And now, no doubt, they are meta-human vampires, too. Can you imagine what becoming a vampire would have done to some of them?"

"So you suggest we just wait here?" cried out one females in the back with growing hysteria in her voice. Vixen noted the woman as being a skilled hypnotist who used the alias of Ms. Mesmer. Fortunately, she was being consoled by her blonde friend, Brains, who was the leader of the group they were part of known simply as The Gang.

A short dark-haired everyone recognized as Scandal scoffed at the outcry. "Unlike many of the others here, the only reason I allowed myself to become a prisoner here was so I could break someone out. And in order to pull that off, I had to learn of a way to get out of here."

"There is no other way," Vixen responded guardedly.

Scandal let the corners of her mouth turn up in the beginnings of a smile. "Not according to the Spook."

Vixen went over in her mind what little she knew about the Spook. He was one of the many villains that the Batman regularly faced. He was also considered one of the world's greatest escape-artists with a flair for the dramatic. But could she trust this small, lithe woman? This daughter of the immortal Vandal Savage, a brutal madman bent on world domination, and willing to wipe out anyone that gets in his way. While the most recent records Vixen had read indicated that she was not affiliated with her father, that information could have been falsified.

"It cost me a bit," Scandal began, "but the Spook was able to show me a few flaws in the designs of Belle Reve that could be facilitated in an escape."

"The important thing is, can it get us out of this cell block?" Killer Frost asked, after she used her freezing powers to ice over the barred doorway, catching several vampires, including Calendar Man almost entirely in the instantly formed giant ice block.

As way of answering, Scandal went to the far wall and began measuring from one corner to the other, stopping around two-thirds of the way across. "Here," she said, scratching a large X on the concrete with a toothbrush that had been sharpened at the handle.

Vixen frowned. "There's at least four feet of concrete and rebar in there. Not to mention other security measures."

Scandal grinned. "Your added security measures, which include electrical lines and tubes of knockout gas, were not included in this section. Evidently the construction crew got a little ahead of themselves, then covered up the mistake when they realized it later."

Vixen considered her options. She didn't like the thought of helping the prisoners escape their cell block. But the alternative… She could already hear the vampires chipping away at the ice in an effort to get to their blood. "It's still four feet of concrete and rebar," she pointed out.

"Not a problem," spoke up a very tall, muscular redhead as she started to head over to the place on the wall that Scandal had indicated. "That vamp idiot restored our powers to us."

"Mind if I lend a hand, Knockout?" a tall white-haired woman said.

Knockout, a former member of the dreaded Female Furies from Apokolips, smashed her fist nearly a foot into the concrete, then grabbed one of the exposed rebar built into it and pulled.

"Sure, Jeannette, it won't take long either way," she said with a cheery grin that seemed so out of place in somewhere like Belle Reve. Then again, Knockout grew up on Apokolips, so doing time in Belle Reve probably seemed like a day spa to her.

Jeannette, a centuries old banshee, moved to the other side and plunged her fist into the concrete as well, almost as deep as Knockout.

"Careful not to go over too much or you'll rupture the knockout gas," Scandal started to say, just before green mist began to leak out from the two women had been bashing through the way.

"Bah! Move out of the way and let me handle it!" snarled a skinny redhead. Once Jeannette and Knockout were clear, Shimmer raised her hands and began focusing on her power. She transmuted the debilitating green gas into oxygen, then concentrated onto the wall itself, molecularly reconstructing it into a sealed corridor for them to walk through. "It won't last long so you should all probably hurry," Shimmer stated as she led the way through the tunnel as if she could care less if the others followed after her.

Scandal, followed by Knockout and Jeannette, began the line out of the cellblock.

But things rarely went as expected, especially when super-villains and vampires were concerned.

As Shimmer entered into what appeared to be a large storage area, she was suddenly seized from above by the neck, then snatched away.

Knockout reached out to try and grab her but it was too late. All she could see was a large ape-like body leaping up into the rafters with the unconscious Shimmer. The dark beast looked down at the ladies pushing their way into see, showing his hideously demonic face. Then giving out a savage cry he sank his elongated fangs into stunned villainess's neck and began to feast on her blood.

"Ah ha!" came a call from the shadows. "Gorilla Boss has claimed first blood among the ladies!" An eye-patched, bald, bearded man wearing a purple pirate jacket stepped into the light and raised his sword toward them. "He shall not be the last," he added, with a throaty growl. "So says Captain Stingaree!"

Jeannette rolled her eyes at the vampire's extravagant wardrobe and antics. "He's so gay."

"What?" sputtered Captain Stingaree.

Scandal gave her sharpened toothbrush a twirl. "Word is that Stingaree and Cavalier have been seeing each other for a while now."

"But- that's not—you can't-" Captain Stingaree looked around flustered.

"Knew it," said another voice. A vampire in a reddish outfit with orange mask, gloves, boots, shorts, and dozens of knives strapped to his person, stepped into the light. "I knew something was going on between you two," he chuckled.

"Shut up, Dagger," growled Stingaree.

Dagger shrugged. "Hey, I'm not judging. I've got a cousin who's gay. He's the only one in my family I even talk to anymore."

"We're not casting stones here either," Scandal spoke up while holding Knockout's hand tenderly.

Dagger took out two of his knives, and flipped them end over end. "Now that we've gotten that out of the way, perhaps not we can get on to why we are all here." Five inmates, two orderlies and an office worker all stepped out into the open with their faces vamped out.

Vixen moved through the opening. Then moved to one side where there was a nearby empty wooden pallet that she smashed to pieces with her foot. "Everyone get a piece of wood. If you get a chance, use the wood as a stake and drive it through their hearts."

On the other side of the wall, Brains began dragging Ms. Mesmer into the tunnel Shimmer had made.

"What are you doing? Why are you in such a hurry? Out there we could be exposed to who knows what kinds of dangers! We should let the others clear out any threats!"

"No! You don't understand!" Brains practically shouted as she hurried made their way to the front of the line.

"Watch it!" barked the Marine Marauder, as Brains pulled Ms. Mesmer into the tunnel.

Brains continued to push forward, even when those in front of her stopped due to the vampires ahead of them. "Shimmer created this tunnel! And whatever she creates returns to what it originally was about three minutes later! This tunnel is going to close very shortly!"

All the women who had heard Brains, moved more quickly to get through the tunnel, many now shoving others out of their way as they became desperate not to be trapped for the vampires to feast upon. Orca plowed her way forward and through the tight tunnel that made it look like the females were being shot out into the storeroom.

Then after another minute, the tunnel returned to being a concrete wall, two women entirely encased, and merging partially with five others, killing three of them.

There were just over a dozen female inmates and a guard still in the cellblock. The guard took to shooting at the vampires that were making short work of the remaining ice around the barred doorway. Seeing that shooting the vampires didn't seem to kill them, the guard began shooting the vampires in the head. He was surprised and delighted when the first headshot had reduced the vampire dressed as a cook into dust almost instantaneously. The guard never got to make a second shot, as a hand suddenly burst through his chest.

"This is a good reason why a species should not have just a singular heart."

Carnivora pulled her fist back through the guard's body, which she let fall to the floor for the Hyena to pounce upon. The alien female took a bite out of the heart, and swallowed, before sauntering casually over to where the vampires were still trying to break in.

Catman stood on his side of the bars, meeting her gaze. "Why did you kill him?" Catman asked.

She tossed him the rest of the heart before responding. "Your pack seems much more interesting then this other group that has so much prey among them. Hyena and I would like to join your pack."

Catman drank thirstily from the heart as if it were a cup. Having his fill, he threw it over his shoulder, where some lesser vampires began fighting for it. Even with her appearance, Catman could tell that Carnivora was alien to this world. Also that she was an apex killer. As for the Hyena, he was less concerned. He knew she was a type of were-creature. The fact that she was a were-hyena was somewhat more appealing to him. Hyenas were actually large felines; though very vicious, ugly, and not the kind of feline he usually chose to hang around.

Catman and the NKVDemon shared a message with a glance, to which the NKVDemon turned and left. Behind them, Calendar Man looked slighted at being left out.

Leaning against the bars that separated them, Catman regarded them again. "Our king and queen will want to meet you. I don't think you will have any problem being accepted by him. And your Hyena friend will most likely also be welcomed."

"We will be able to hunt together?" the alien asked eagerly.

"That's the plan." He nodded past her to the other prisoners. "What are they to you?"

Carnivora didn't even bother looking back at the terrified women. "Oh, they are all for you." Then she reached out to help tear down the bars that separated them.

¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`

 **AUTHOR's** **NoTeS:**

 _Sorry it took so long to post another chapter._

 _Yes, Murph was rather heavy handed, but you also have to factor in that he can hear his guards being killed, and these villains are the ones that the vampires are after. Plus, having terminal cancer can really affect your state of priorities. That, and William Heller was some of the lowest of scum._

 _I know that Carnivora isn't as well known, but I thought she would fit in really nice here. And as for the Hyena, well, werewolves have been mentioned to be servants of vampires in legends, I figure the Hyena is close enough that it could be plausible._

 _For those that don't know it, DC Comics have stated that Captain Stingaree and Cavalier are gay and a couple. The same is true for Scandal and Knockout. I'm just mentioning it, so no flames, please!_

 **GLOSSARY**

 **Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane –** A prison in Gotham City where many of Batman's enemies are imprisoned for treatment.

 **Bane –** Bane is a brilliant world-class fighter and tactical genius who augments his great physical strength with a steroid called venom. Raised from childhood in the Peña Duro prison on Santa Prisca, he was determined that he would destroy Batman to prove himself, and succeeded by breaking the hero's back. Since then he has been an international crimelord, an anti-hero, a mercenary, a government agent and even a dictator. His father is the legendary martial artist King Snake **.**

 **Batman / Wayne, Bruce –** The super-hero protector of Gotham City, a man dressed like a bat who fights against evil and strikes terror into the hearts of criminals everywhere.

 **Belle Reve** – A prison in Louisiana specially designed to incarcerate metahumans which also services as the headquarters of the Suicide Squad.

 **Blackgate Penitentiary –** A Gotham prison that houses many of the harshest criminals and Batman's villains.

 **Bolt / Larry Bolatinsky -** A former special effects artist turned assassin and criminal for-hire after designing a suit that gave him the ability to fly, fire electric blasts and teleport.

 **Brains –** A statuesque blonde woman who was the mastermind of the criminal organization the Gang.

 **Bronze Tiger / Turner, Benjamin '** ** _Ben_** **'** – One of the world's greatest martial artists. He was later brainwashed by the League of Assassins. Later, after he had been deprogramed by Amanda Waller, he willingly joined her Suicide Squad.

 **Brotherhood of Evil –** A team of supervillains, who work to defeat both the Doom Patrol (especially The Chief) and the Teen Titans. At first it was believed their goal to be world domination.

 **Calendar Man / Day, Julian** – He is fascinated by holidays and significant dates and calendars. Though he has often worn costumes to correlate with date during particular crimes, his main costume is red and white with a cape made of calendars. He is a successful inventor, capable of designing the machinery needed to deploy his various schemes.

 **Captain Stingaree / Courtney, Karl** – A modern-day pirate obsessed with pirates.

 **Carnivora –** She was part of an extraterrestrial invasion fleet whose spacecraft was destroyed by the asteroid field. She has a sadistic, savage personality, and likes to torture her food before consuming.

 **Catman / Blake, Thomas –** A renowned hunter from a wealthy family, Blake decided to try his hand as a costumed villain as a means of discovering new thrills. After being continually defeated by Batman, his self-esteem began to falter making him more and more a bumbling buffoon. Later he went and lived with a lion pride in the wild to rediscover himself. Soon he was once more one of the world's premier hunters and trackers.

 **Cavalier / Drake, Mortimer –** The Cavalier is a swashbuckling super-villain and enemy to Batman in Gotham City, having also resided in Arkham Asylum. Despite his criminal tendencies, he purports to be a man of gallantry and honor.

 **Cheetah / Minerva, Barbara –** She obtained the power of the Cheetah. She had superhuman strength, agility, and speed.

 **Church of Blood –** A cult that has been around for seven centuries, which is controlled by Brother Blood.

 **Dagger / Rennington, David –** He embarked into crime in order to save his blade making business, Rennington Steel. He's an expert knife-thrower who wears several knives about his person.

 **Doctor Poison II –** An unnamed grandchild of the original Doctor Poison. She is an expert in the use of poisons, toxins and plagues. Having used herself as a subject for biochemical experiments, she's developed the ability to secrete various toxins and chemicals.

 **Fortune, Professor Amos –** Fortune is obsessed with luck and created the Royal Flush Gang to bring about his criminal endeavors.

 **Gorilla Boss / Dyke, George** – George was a mobster who was executed in a gas chamber at Gotham City Prison. However, his brain was removed from his body by his henchman under his orders. George's brain ended up transplanted into the body of a towering gorilla by a disgraced surgeon. The Gorilla Boss soon established himself during a crime spree in Gotham, bringing him conflict with Batman.

 **Hammer / Ulyanov, Boris** \- He is a Soviet hero and a member of the People's Heroes, and wields a powerful hammer. He is also married to one of his teammates, Sickle.

 **Hazard / Sharpe, Rebecca –** The granddaughter of the villain, the Gambler. She was horrified after her grandfather lost his fortune gambling and killed himself. To avenge him, she became a supervillain herself. She has psionic powers that she uses in conjunction with special die to influence probability as she wishes.

 **H.I.V.E. (the** **H** **ierarchy of** **I** **nternational** **V** **engeance and** **E** **xtermination) –** A group of criminal scientists dedicated to striking out against their enemies. Their foot soldiers were promised immortality for their allegiance.

 **Hyena I / Day, Summer** – She was serving in the Peace Corps in Africa when a wounded man she was treating suddenly turned into a were-creature and bit her. Later, when she returned to America, she began to turn into a were-hyena under the full moon. Later she would learn that she would turn into the Hyena whenever experiencing emotional stress.

 **Icicle II –** Son of the first Icicle. He somehow inherited his freezing powers from his father's prolonged exposure to his cold-ray gun. He turned to crime in revenge against the Justice Society of America.

 **Intergang –** An organized crime syndicate. They have managed to stay one step ahead of most Earth-based crime fighters by using technology from Apokolips.

 **Iron Cross –** A member of the Aryan Brigade, and is super strong.

 **Jeannette –** An immortal, having lived without aging for centuries and endured great physical trauma without any long-term harm. She has also shown to be a lot stronger and faster than a human being. Transforming into her banshee form, the scream she released causes those who hear it to experience all the horrors of her traumatic death.

 **Jewelee –** A puppeteer along with her husband Punch, they discovered a strange, antique chest that floated onto the beach. Inside, were several alien devices: flying boots, sting string, hypno gems, and other items. They used the alien technology to take on a life of crime.

 **Jinx –** An East Indian elemental sorceress who can use her magical abilities for a variety of effects. She draws her power from the Earth, ad must be in physical contact with it or else her magical abilities are weakened or lost. She can create energy blasts, flight, illusion generation, and other things. She is a member of the Fearsome Five.

 **Joker –** The Joker is a serial killer and a super-villain, a dangerous madman who dresses like a clown and commits violent crimes. He is often recognized as Batman's greatest enemy, living in and terrorizing Gotham City, although he spends most of his time in Arkham Asylum. In addition to being a deadly and unpredictable physical combatant, he is a brilliant and ruthless criminal mastermind. His crimes require no motivation other than his sadistic desire to show people the meaninglessness of life through pain and death, and the narcissism to see the world remade in his own image

 **Killer Croc / Jones, Waylon –** Killer Croc is an enemy of Batman with incredible super-strength and a crocodile-like appearance. This mutation was originally a birth defect, although he becomes more reptilian over time due to genetic experimentation. Despite his brutal savagery and heightened reflexes, his animalistic mentality results in lower intelligence.

 **Killer Frost II / Lincoln, Louise –** A friend of the original Killer Frost, who assumed the murderous identity following the original's death in order to avenge her death against Firestorm. She is able to absorb heat and transmute it to extreme cold temperatures, which manifests in the generation of ice structures of various sizes and freezing gusts of wind. She can use this power to create ice surfaces upon which she may slide, and also to create weaponry or defensive structures. She can also reduce the temperature of a person's body until they freeze to death. She is also an intelligent and skilled scientist.

 **Knockout –** Knockout was a former Female Fury from Apokolips. As such she possesses the strength and ferocity of those hazed through the fires of her world.

 **Kobra / Cult of Kobra –** A terrorist religious organization led by Kobra. Members will fight to the dead, and commit suicide rather than be captured.

 **League of Assassins –** An ancient army of killers led by Ra's al Ghul that has often come into conflict with Batman. Many of the greatest martial artists and mercenaries in the world have been members of the League of Assassins at some point.

 **Mad Hatter / Tetch, Jervis –** an enemy of Batman who uses mind-controlling hats. He is a delusional mental patient in Arkham Asylum, obsessed with Lewis Carroll's novel _Alice in Wonderland_ and naming himself after one of the main characters.

 **Mammoth / Flinders, Baran** \- He and his sister, Shimmer, are Australian, and discovered their powers as children. They soon took to a life of crime, later became a founding member of the Fearsome Five. He is very large and muscular with super strength, and a low intelligence.

 **Marine Marauder II / Simmonds, Marlene –** Dr. Simmonds is a marine biologist who used her knowledge to go into piracy on the high seas. She is able to telepathically control many types of marine life. Her costume gave her the ability to breathe underwater with a facemask, as well as giving her increased strength and protecting her from the pressures of the ocean. Her suit also lets her fly and shoot beams of energy from her goggles.

 **Mister Freeze / Fries, Victor** \- A super-villain enemy of Batman who fights using cold-themed weapons. Formerly a scientist working in cryogenics, he had dedicated his life to finding a cure for his wife Nora Fries' terminal illness. Following a horrible lab accident, he became dependent on sub-zero temperatures to survive and began using his experimental inventions to commit crimes in efforts to fund his research. This also requires an exo-skeleton that keeps him constantly freezing. Losing touch with humanity over time, he eventually turns into a colder and more sadistic psychopath.

 **Ms. Mesmer –** A member of the Gang who gained hypnotic abilities.

 **Murph –** Chain-smoking head of the prison guards at Belle Reve.

 **New Wave / Jones, Becky –** A sociopathic criminal with the ability to control water and turn into water. She leads a mercenary group called the Masters of Disaster who specialize in causing natural disasters

 **NKVDemon –** NKVDemon is less of a bruiser in combat, using skill and wits rather than overwhelming physical size to take on his opponents. Years of training under the KGBeast have left NKVDemon extremely resistant to physical pain. NKVDemon is also an exceptional hand-to-hand combatant like his mentor, KGBeast, and is also a weapons and explosives expert and a master of disguises, both of which contribute greatly to his skill as an assassin.

 **Orca / Balin, Grace –** A marine biologist who used orca spinal cord tissue to turn herself into a human / whale hybrid.

 **Plastique** **/ Souci, Bette Sans** \- An explosive super-villain, originally seen as an enemy to **Firestorm**. Beginning her career as a French-Canadian terrorist, she eventually reformed and became a mercenary.

 **Poison Ivy / Isley, Pamela –** Poison Ivy is a super-villain and eco-terrorist with the ability to control plants, usually an antagonist to Batman. Originally she was botanist _Pamela Isley_ working underneath Professor Jason Woodrue until an accident gave her powers and turned her insane. Protecting the sanctity and supremacy of nature at all costs, she sadistically lashes out against humanity as a blight upon the planet. Frequently she teams up with her best friend and partner in crime, Harley Quinn.

 **Queen Bee / Zazzala –** The queen of the planet Korll, she created an army of bee-men to loot worlds as she sought a way to immortality.

 **Queen of Spades / Taylor, Mona –** A member of the second version of Royal Flush Gang. Taylor is an alcoholic. She can create realistic illusions and had a wrist shooter that fired spade shaped projectiles.

 **Riddler / Nygma, Riddler –** The Riddler is a super-villain enemy of Batman who commits crimes revolving around an obsession with riddles. His mental psychosis results from a deep inner need to prove that he's smarter and therefore better than others, which causes him to leave challenging clues behind in otherwise perfect crimes. This psychological compulsion has resulted in him being repeatedly imprisoned in Arkham Asylum. Despite this obvious flaw, he is otherwise an extremely intelligent criminal mastermind.

 **Rosie the Riveter –** Rosie leads a team of mercenaries called the Demolition Team. She used a modified gun that fires red hot rivets as her weapon.

 **Scandal / Savage, Scandal –** The daughter of the immortal Vandal Savage, Scandal refuses to live under her father's shadow. She's a skilled fighter, and wields a pair of gauntlets that carry her Lamentation Blades that seem able to slice through most materials. She also has inherited her father's regenerative abilities, and is able to heal soon without injury.

 **Scarecrow / Crane, Jonathan –** A brilliant psychologist turned super-villain who fights Batman in Gotham City, specializing in techniques and chemicals that manipulate fear. Jonathan Crane was originally a well-respected professor, although he lost credibility when he obsessively took his experiments too far and descended into madness.

 **Shimmer / Flinders, Selinda –** She and her brother, Mammoth, are Australian, and discovered their powers as children. They soon took to a life of crime, later became a founding member of the Fearsome Five. She can transmute things that are a few feet from her into other things for up to three minutes before they turn back.

 **Sickle / Ulyanov, Natasha –** She is a Soviet hero and a member of the People's Heroes, and wields a powerful sickle. She is also married to one of his teammates, Hammer.

 **SKULL –** An international criminal organization who recruit disgraced scientists to bolster its ranks.

 **Spook / Kaliban, Val –** A costumed villain and enemy to Batman. He is an expert hypnotist and escapologist, who uses theatrical effects to simulate supernatural events. These are used to enthrall his victims while he commits crimes.

 **S.T.A.R. Labs (Science and Technology Advanced Research Laboratories)** – a nationwide chain of research laboratories unconnected to the government or any business.

 **Suicide Squad / Task Force X** – A team of super-villains running missions for the government in exchange for reduced prison sentences.

 **Ten of Spades / Wayland, Wanda –** A member of the second version of the Royal Flush Gang. She uses an energy blaster in her gloves and carried explosive playing cards.

 **Tiger Moth –** Tiger Moth's costume has technology that disorients foes that make them unable to hit her directly.

 **Tigress II / Crock, Artemis –** Artemis Crock is the daughter of Paula Brooks - The First Tigress - and Lawrence Crock a.k.a Sportsmaster. She was taught her skills by both of her parents so she could continue their legacy. Tigress' strength, agility, speed, and stamina are within peak human levels. She has exceptional hunting skills and has an enhanced sense of smell that allows her to track individuals. Tigress is highly proficient in several hand-to-hand combat techniques. Her arsenal includes a compact crossbow and a quiver of arrows, knives, nets, and bolas.

 **Two-Face / Dent, Harvey –** A villain obsessed with duality and the number "two." He is an enemy to Batman in Gotham City. In his private life he was Harvey Dent, Gotham's district attorney. The mobster Sal Maroni burned his face with a bottle of acid during trial. His psychosis leads him to believe that right and wrong don't matter, as everything is ruled by chance. To prove this, he makes decisions of good or evil based on the flip of a special coin. This makes him highly unpredictable as a criminal mastermind.

 **2000 Committee –** Corrupt scientific organization that caused many problems for Firestorm.

 **Vixen / McCabe, Mari Jiwe –** She can channel the abilities of virtually any creature in the animal kingdom through a magic totem. She started as a solo hero, but later joined the JLA, and later the Suicide Squad.

 **White Dragon / Heller, William –** He grew up on Nazi propaganda, strongly shaping racist beliefs deep inside him. He first started his mission on the streets as the costumed vigilante William Hell. Later, he gained a powered armored suit and used the name White Dragon.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

 **by Ordinaryguy2**

 **Outside the black dome covering Arkham Asylum.**

Lucas 'Snapper' Carr adjusted the body armor he had put on, checking each strap twice. He wasn't used to the armor, and hadn't been trained yet to fight while having it on, so he was going to be careful how he handled himself. But technically he wasn't going along because of his fighting skills.

Snapper was not new to dangerous scenes by a long shot. He'd actually met the newly formed Justice League of America when they came to help save his town from the giant alien starfish known as Starro. Somehow he managed to convince the heroes to let him be their mascot. He tried helping out in various ways, but found himself getting in the way more often than not. Hawkman had decided to train him in the ways of fighting. Fortunately for Snapper that hadn't gone on for long before Black Canary noticed how bruised he was, and decided to take over his training. But, then the Joker had got him to give away the location of the JLA's secret location of their headquarters. That had put him on the outs with the JLA. Feeling rejected, Snapper had been ripe pickings for another of the JLA's enemies, the Key. The Key had bestowed his with temporary powers with the masked identity of the Star-Tsar in order for him to get back at the JLA for totally ditching him. After being defeated, and shamed for having turned against his friends, Snapper left of his own again. Only this time, the JLA kept in contact with him to make sure he didn't do something stupid again.

That didn't stop trouble from finding Snapper again. This time he'd been kidnapped along with many other people by aliens known as the Dominators. The Dominators were seeking test subjects in order to discover how relevant the 'metagene' was in the human species. Six people out of fifty, including Snapper, had survived the carnage by developing latent metahuman powers. Snapper's ability was to teleport by snapping his fingers. He and the others finally escaped, and they called their group The Blasters, with Snapper as the leader. They traveled with the Omega Men for a while. There'd been several other adventures, too. Eventually, he'd left the team and gone back to Earth. He'd had some more adventures time-traveling android Hourman.

He'd decided to take some time to live the quiet life for a while when he'd been approached by Amanda Waller to join Checkmate, both as a pawn and a consultant about the superhero community. He had refused. And that would have been the end of it, except he'd been approached by one of the last people he had expected and asked to reconsider not accepting. Who had come to ask him? None other than Batman, himself. When Snapper asked why, Batman explained that Snapper would serve as a double agent, spying for Batman so the Dark Knight would know the intentions of Checkmate. Batman did point out that Waller would anticipate Snapper's sudden change of heart, and suspect that Snapper was also spying for the JLA. Turns out Waller accepted him right away, and Snapper figured from the smirk on her face that Batman had been dead-on correct in her intentions. And he was not about to let Waller know about his teleporting abilities.

He been put through Checkmate's version of boot camp. It'd been rough, but he made it, partially thanks to his previous training with Black Canary. He'd been sent out into the field as a pawn, which meant he was background support for Checkmate's on the field agents, the Knights. Mostly that entailed surveillance, bringing Knights the necessary equipment, and providing First Aid. Or, in a worst case scenario, retrieve the bodies of the fallen Knights.

Now, for the first time, he'd been asked to suit up as a Knight.

Well, not really a Knight. He'd been given the armor and weapons of a Knight, but he wasn't going in on his own merit.

Nope, not him.

See, Snapper had befriended several people in Checkmate, which is easy since he is a pretty likable guy. One of those he'd got to know was Bernard Bonner who he played video games with in their down time. Overtime he learned that Bernard had been a supervillain that had fought Firestorm along with his sister Blythe. Both had a type of electrical abilities. Bernard, codenamed ' _Bug_ ', could use his mind to electronically interact with computers and control them to a degree. His sister, Blythe, had become the electrical, homicidal powerhouse known as ' _Byte_ '. Both of the siblings were somewhat mentally unstable due to their powers. Bug, though, was able to regain some stability by connecting with his estranged mother, Belle Haney. Waller had brought in Bug and his mother to Checkmate; his mother because she was a scientist, and Bug to work on the various computer systems confiscated from evil organization, super-villains, or even alien tech. So when Bug had been asked to design a control device for the J.A.K.E. 2 robot that S.T.A.R. Labs had borrowed to Checkmate, it was Bug's opinion that Snapper was the best person to control the robot.

Snapper didn't know whether to thank Bug or strangle him. He figured he's wait to see if he survived this mission before deciding how to deal with Bug.

"Okay," Bug cheerfully spoke as he handed Snapper his helmet. "I've tweaked your helmet so that a lens on the right side will allow you to see out of the robot's optic sensors. Due to the myths of vampires not casting a reflection and such, I decided to add an echo locator. I already added a program so that if the robot's optics can't see someone that the echo locators say should be there, it will automatically fire at it."

Snapper took the helmet, tipping on it's side so that he could look in the thing. "Sounds good in theory." He reached in to touch something near the mouthpiece only for Bug to slap his hand away. Snapper frowned. "I just don't know if I should go and face a horde of blood-thirsty vampires with this thing when I haven't even had any practice using it."

Bug nodded his own agreement to the grievance. "I really doubt you will have much trouble with the old J.A.K.E. here," he said calmly, patting the robot standing there. "I did a thorough look into his systems. It's pretty old tech. If fact, I'm rather surprised that it does work. Whoever put it together was definitely a genius before their time, or maybe…"

"Or what?"

Bug gave an embarrassed shuck and ran his fingers through his hair. "It'll sound silly, but… I think that whoever designed old J.A.K.E. must have come from the future. The tech is what could be cobbled together in the early 40's, but, but…" He gave another sigh of frustration. "You know my power lets me look inside electronics." He said, while lightly patting the large purple Bug headpiece that was sitting on a bench next to him. He paused again, looking from the robot and Snapper, then let out a sigh. "I think that old J.A.K.E. here has a rudimentary A.I. in him."

"Artificial Intelligence?" Snapper gave the old, refurbish automaton another look over. "Wouldn't it be dangerous for me to try control it?" He'd seen quite a few things in his years, and one thing he was sure of was that thinking machines do not like to be controlled.

Bug frowned, but more than understood the concern. Waller had had him barter, and sometimes even make treaties, with a few computer entities. He was that good with artificial intelligences. For the most part, he preferred them to most humans. He'd even been persistent on trying to woo Platinum of the Metal Men. But with no luck on his part, except for a restraining order against him.

The main thing was that he had a general understanding of how A.I.'s work. "I doubt you will have any real problems," he said, trying to be assuring.

"Hey, Snapper. Barney. How you two doing?"

Dale Gunn was an older, bearded, black man with greying hair. Snapper didn't know the whole story, but Gunn had been in charge of the bunker that the Justice League used for the time they were based out of Detroit. Snapper had seen him spar with some of the Pawns and Knights, proving that he could be quite effective in a fight for an older man without any powers. Word is that he had even dated Zatanna for a while. Not that Snapper had the nerve to ask him if it were true.

Irritation started to cross Bug's features. "It's ' _Bug_ '! We're in the field! You are supposed to call me ' _Bug_ ' in the field!"

Gunn nodded appealingly. "Sorry, Bug. I thought since you were not wearing your outfit, that I should use your normal name." He had encountered several juvenile fits from the young man, mostly mild like this one. The main reason for these outbursts started was because Gunn had started to date Belle Haney, Bug's mother.

Bug caught himself, looked down at his helmet, then reluctantly back to Gunn. "Guess you have a point," he said, his tone weak.

Snapper knew it would be a good time to interrupt. "Gunn? I know why I'm getting dressed in Knight armor; but why are you getting armored up?"

"Volunteered," he responded with a grin. "My job is to keep you safe while you play with that tinker toy."

A look of anger crossed Bug's nerdy face. "J.A.K.E. is a WW II experimental robot designed for jungle warfare. His left arm consists of a fully functional machine gun which fires modified wooden bullets, mini-torpedoes and small anti-aircraft missiles. He is capable of scanning for life forms and energy sources. J.A.K.E. can adjust the sensitivity of his audio receptors to a point where he can detect the faintest of sounds. He can even fly short distances thanks to rockets installed in his boots. He also is able to take his own initiative if he senses a threat, but will otherwise wait until instructed."

"Which is why I'm needed to guide him," Snapper jumped in, hoping to allay some of the ill will.

Dale Gunn, held up a hand in peace. "I meant no disrespect. If I didn't think J.A.K.E. here wasn't up for the job, I wouldn't have volunteered to go along on this turkey shoot."

Snapper snickered at the humor, but Bug looked confused, which was fine since it distracted him from his moment of anger.

"So," Gunn said as he scratched his beard. "Bug, how about you introduce us?"

Bug tilted him head while looking at the man in confusion.

"Bug," Snapper said. "Gunn means you should introduce us to J.A.K.E."

A lightbulb seem to figuratively go off over the young man's head. The excited onrush of trying to introduce J.A.K.E. to Snapper and Gunn, and then to anyone else close by, including the roaming Creeper. Fortunately, the Creeper seemed to take a liking to the idea of working with a robot, and broke out singing ' _If he only had a heart_ '.

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"Waller!" barked Harvey Bullock.

Amanda cursed lightly as she excused herself from her phone call with the president who was whining to her about how her action could or could not affect his popularity rating. The man had little understanding of what the big picture was and she was kicking herself for voting for him.

"What?" she snapped at Bullock.

"There's an incoming vehicle that has just plowed through the checkpoint."

"Why the hell are you telling me?" The waved her arm as if to indicate all of the Checkmate personnel working around them, as well as the large group of heroes and villains waiting to go into action.

"It's a souped-up ice cream truck."

She took a moment to take in that ridiculous fact. Only, this close to Gotham City, someone driving dangerously in an ice cream truck could be taken as a calling card.

"So… an ice cream truck… That would suggest either the Joker or Mr. Freeze. Both of whom I believe were inside Arkham when this dome went up. Possibly Sweet Tooth, but I last heard he was in a diabetic coma in the hospital. That still leaves several other kooks in this crazy city."

"Yeah, that's true," admitted Bullock. "Only difference is that whoever the hell this kook is, they are trying to break in for a change. Either way, the Knights are asking for permission to fire."

Before she could give the go-ahead, her other cell-phone rang. This was the cell-phone her truly important phone calls come in on. "Waller here."

She listened for a moment, letting nothing show on her face.

Finally she looked to Bullock. "Let the truck drive in but keep it and its occupants covered for now."

"Was that Oracle on the horn?" Bullock asked.

She took off walking with Bullock at her side. "Yes. Evidently Oracle took my request to scrounge up whatever help she could find a little too literal."

"Problem, Wall?"

Amanda looked back to see that Faith Lehane, the Slayer she had pulled from prison, walking side by side with the Huntress, one of Gotham's masked guardians, and just behind her came Wild Dog and Peacemaker. "Some late arrivals are coming to join the party."

"Are they on our side?" Faith asked.

"Oracle seems to think so. But, stick around and find out."

Faith shared a look with the Huntress, and they started to spread out and around where the activity around an ice cream truck was building up. Peacemaker and Wild Dog followed their example and did likewise.

The windows on the ice cream truck were tinted so no one could see inside, but one of the Checkmate Pawns did a thermal reading and announced five heat signatures inside.

The Knights were just stepping to one side for Waller and Bullock when the driver's door to the ice cream truck opened up.

The figure that stepped out ignored all the weapons being pointed at her. "Hey all! Let's get this party going! Yeah!"

Harley Quinn twirled her enlarged mallet out as she looked around. "Huh, there sure are a lot of you. But I guess there needs to be a lot of you if we are gonna save Mr. J from those sucky vampires."

Bullock spat on the ground in annoyance before shooting a glance at Amanda. "Oracle told this fruit loop we were going to save her homicidal clown of a boyfriend?"

Waller didn't take her eyes off the insane woman. "Technically, we are." She then cleared her throat before addressing Harley. "Ms. Quinn, who else is inside the vehicle?"

Harley Quinn twirled her large wooden mallet like it was a baton. "Oh, the computer-voice lady that contacted me said I should bring whatever help I could and hurry. So, I nabbed the nearest people I thought might be able to give a hand." As she talked she moved around to the back of the ice cream truck and rested her hand on the handle. She paused as she took in the sight of the large black dome that covered Arkham Asylum, not providing even a glimpse of what might be inside.

Inside the truck, muffled outcries and curses could be heard, which Harley ignored as she took in the dome. "Huh. I thought it would be bigger. Or full of stars or somethin'."

"Harley," Amanda said pointedly. "Who did you bring?"

"Hmm?" She seemed surprised at the noise coming from the truck. "Oh, I should probably let them out. It's kinda cramped in there with all the ice cream." She lifted the latch and swung the door open. A short man in a dark suit tumbled out onto the hard ground, smears of ice cream evident on various parts of his body.

"You better not have been feeding me babies any of that ice cream!" Harley sternly scolded the man. "Bud and Lou are lactose intolerant!"

Harley whistled, and two large hyenas leapt out of the vehicle only to come to heel on either side of her.

The female clown bent down and examined both hyenas, wiping the telltale traces of ice cream from their muzzles. "Oh, you two are going to have such gas problems. If I didn't think I'd need you to rescue Mr. J, I would leave you right here and pick you up later."

As Harley attended to Bud and Lou, her two hyenas, the man that had tumbled out the ice cream truck, scuttled away from them until he bumped up against one of the armored Knights.

The Penguin struggled to get to his feet as fast as he could. Once standing, he quickly brushed the dust from his clothes, inadvertently smearing more ice cream. "She kidnapped me! Force me to come with her against my will! Whatever madness she was undertaking, I have no knowledge of! I am an innocent party!" He only then paused to take in the Knights golden armor. "Who are you people? Are you with H.I.V.E.?"

"Cobblepot!" Bullock shouted out almost gleefully.

Oswald Cobblepot, otherwise known as the Penguin swore under his breath at the sight of Harvey Bullock.

"Oh, ho! Are you in for a treat tonight, Penguin! A once in a lifetime event! And I can say that because of just how dangerous the venture you are about to undertake is!"

Cobblepot's eyes darted around like those of a rat looking for an avenue of escape. "I don't know what you are talking about! I'm not going anywhere or taking on anything! I'm just a simple restaurant owner! My criminal past is behind me!"

"You ain't so innocent," Bullock said, grinning like Christmas had come early. "We have reports that you still have ties to several criminals, providing them with contacts, and laundering money."

"Outrageous, slanderous lies!" Penguin squawked. "I demand to see my lawyer!" he cried out with his fists in the air.

Amanda regarded the plump notorious villain. She turned to Bullock who was her main expert in all things related to Gotham. "Do you really think he could be a useful asset?"

Harley spoke up, though she kept her eyes on the hyena she was scratching behind the ear, totally ignoring the armed men pointing their weapons at her. "Penguin's surprisingly good in a fight. Unorthodox and wily. Devious and cruel. Hard and notorious. There's a reason he's still considered one of the most dangerous men in Gotham, even while hiding in plain sight as a nightclub owner."

"It's more of a lounge or restaurant," Cobblepot corrected, mildly preening at her words.

Amanda turned to Bullock. "Your call: does he go or stay?"

The Penguin almost swore at the toothy grin Bullock sent his way.

"Someone get this bird a bracelet, he's just been shanghaied into the Suicide Squad!"

Harley had reached deeper into the vehicle, and gave a tug, pulling out a bound person.

It took a moment for most to take in the image of Catwoman tightly bound with her own whip, including a ball gag. Hate was pouring from her eyes with such force, most people felt like they had been slapped hard. Even those that were of a more lecherous nature, turned away for fear of reprisals from the infamous cat burglar.

There was one person not fazed by the looks focused directly at her. "Now don't be like that, Selina" Harley began, talking to Catwoman. "You're one of the few friends I have. And friends are supposed to help each other. So you should have just come and lend a hand when I asked you, and you wouldn't be in this predicament."

If anything, Catwoman's glare intensified.

Waller leaned over to Bullock. "Make sure she is ' _tagged_ ' before she's loosed. She could serve as a good asset."

Wild Dog came up to Cobblepot, making the short, potbellied criminal back up against the ice cream truck to get away from the submachine gun that the hockey masked hero wore. That is until Wild Dog pointed his weapon away and held out a gloved hand to shake with.

"Welcome to the team," Wild Dog said.

Confused somewhat, Penguin decided it would be better accept the handshake, especially since he didn't seem to be getting any sympathy from anyone else.

Cobblepot was caught totally off guard by the electrified glove that know firmly gripped his hand even as he fell shaking to the ground.

Wild Dog released the Penguin after several seconds of electrifying him with what he called his ' _shock gloves_ '. "He should be much easier to get ready now," he said, turning away from the barely conscious man.

"Say!" Harley began, not liking how Wild Dog was treating someone that she had brought in. But something happened before she could do anything else.

The two hyenas both raised their heads and sniffed the air before suddenly bolting toward the center of the temporary command center that Checkmate had put up in place.

"My babies!" Harley cried out, even as she took off after her pets, shoving two of the Knights out of her way.

"They probably smelt the food," Bullock surmised, even as he and Waller took off after Harley. "Somebody shackle Penguin and Catwoman," he shouted over his shoulder. "And explain to them what would happen if they try to wander away."

The sight that they found was not of the hyenas at the buffet tables. Instead, the two large hyenas were playfully wrestling with a young man on the ground, while people around them watched.

"Babies?" Harley said, having come to a complete stop at the sight in front of her. Even so, she soon shook it off. "Bud! Lou! What have I told you about playing with strange men?"

Xander Harris sat up and pushed one of the hyenas out of his way. "No worries. They just wanted to make friends." He climbed to his feet, and quietly said, "Heel," to which both hyenas did, squatting down right next to him.

"Huh," was all Harley could say at the moment. "They've never taken to anyone like that before. Not even Puddin'. You have quite the way with animals."

"With hyenas anyway," Xander said, before breaking out in a hyena-like laugh to which Bud and Lou joined in, unnerving everyone in the crowd around them expect for Harley who was a bit turned on.

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In less than an hour, a group of around thirty heroes and villains and twenty Knights were positioned near the edge of the dome. They were an uneasy bunch, as would be any group that planned to invade Arkham. Even more so since they believed it to now be infested with vampires.

"Your objective is simple," Waller said as she addressed the group of newly inducted Suicide Squad members. "Kill all vampires, and rescue anyone that hasn't been turned into one of them."

"Especially save Mr. J!" Harley called out.

"The Joker's probably one of those things by now!" hissed Catwoman.

"Not my Puddin'," the female clown stated with a shake of her head. "We captured one of those vamps a few years ago. They didn't have much of a sense of humor, so we staked it." She reenacted the staking procedure with the handle of her mallet which had the wooden end cut into a stake. "Nope, Mr. J is smart. He's probably tucked away in one of the many hidey-holes the Spook built into Arkham, just biding his time."

"Ladies, shut the hell up," snapped Waller. "Now as I was saying, once you do a walk through, you are to see what connection there is between this dome and the ones over Blackgate and Arkham. You are to stop them from spreading to more locations at all costs."

There was some grumbling from the likes of Metallo and Goldface. Most, however, were focused on the task at hand.

"Your leaders will be Faith Lehane," she indicated the young woman who was trying to look competent, despite the wolf whistle from Hellhound. "And Director Bones." This time she indicated a tall skeleton smoking a cigarette while wearing a high end suit and tie, and sporting an unusual looking rifle.

"Miss Lehane will have final say in matters as she has extensive experience with vampires. Follow her lead and your chances of success, not to mention survival, will increase exponentially."

The Question raise his hand to get her attention. "Despite what Miss Lehane and Miss Quinn have said, how are the rest of us supposed to know what one of these vampires you claim to have taken over Arkham even look like?"

Faith chuckled at that. "That's actually a good question." She looked over to her right where a blonde man seemed to be doing his best to imitate Billy Idol. "Hey, Spike? You want to field this question?"

Spike took one last deep drag on his cigarette before flicking it away. "Sure, luv. Always up for a laugh."

Strutting, he walked over in front of Faith, before turning to face the crowd. "Most vampires usually look just like they did before they died. Not that they are the people that died. No, it's a bit more than that. See, vampires reproduce by siring someone. That means that when they are feeding on someone, before that person fully kicks the bucket, the vampire offers some of their blood to the dying person. Usually that person, in desperation, will drink of the vampire's blood. If they do consume of the vampire's blood, the person still dies. But the blood that they drank, it's of demonic origin. You see, it spreads through that person's body, changing that body, strengthening it, learning all the goodies that person knew, and even takes on some of the person's personality. That said, later when the fledgling rises, it may seem like the person that died, but it is all vampire. They may look like someone you know, talk like someone you know, but they sure the hell aren't someone you know."

"You seem to know quite a bit about them," the assassin Deadline spoke up.

Spike let his demonic visage come over his face. "Mate, that's because I am one of them."

Several people started for their weapons, but Faith and Riley Finn fired twice into the air. "Easy, people! He's one of ours!"

"One of ours?" snapped Coldsnap. "He just got done telling us that we can't trust his kind!"

"And normally that is true." Faith let her eyes connect with the various people in the crowd, pausing on each one for only a fraction of a second. She hated being in front of everyone. Everyone looking to her. But she had to be strong. She had to do this or most of them would die. "There are only two known vampires that you can trust. One that was cursed with a soul that goes by the name of Angel, and then there is Spike here who has an inhibitor chip in his head that won't let him kill humans."

Spike took out another cigarette and lit it. "It's true. Now I just have to get my jollies killing demons instead. More fun really. More of a challenge, though I do miss torturing people."

"You're not helping your case, Spike," Xander said, coming forward. "Look, everyone," he spoke up. "What Spike said, that's all true. Hell, I was even tortured by the bastard and so have several of my friends. The chip in his head is real. It's also true that he now goes out practically every night just to taking down other demons because he loves to fight. That is who he is. A rabid scrapper. But he's also a rabid scrapper that we can point in the direction of other vampires and just sit back and watch the dust fly."

Xander turned to face Spike. "I don't like him, but he is going to be a hell of an asset going in there if even half of what we expect is true. I'm not saying he will try and save any of our lives, but he for sure will take down as many of theirs as he possibly can."

Spike snorted in amusement, letting his human face return. Then, shrugging, he turned away.

Faith cleared her throat, which annoyed her. "We have some small handheld devices being passed out among you. It's pretty simple to operate. You just point it and push the button. Basically, it reads body heat. If you are coming upon some people, use this. It will tell you whether or not the people are vampires, simply because the fang set don't give off body heat."

Finally, when all the questions were done, Waller turned to her wizard in residence.

"Black, if you would make an opening, we can get this show on the road."

"What?" Sirius Black looked at the woman in surprise. "You expect me to put a hole in this thing? Just like that? I've been looking at this thing and I don't have a clue of what it is or how to open it up."

Waller frowned. "The message I got from the future said that you had been able to open one up, which is how we learned of the vampire problem in the first place."

The wizard continued to glare at her. "If that's the case, then tell me what spell did the future-me use in the first place."

"I don't know that," growled Waller. "I thought you'd be able to duplicate the same way since it was you who did it before."

Sirius groaned. "That could take hours to find the right one that would work."

"We don't have hours," she snapped.

"Maybe I could help?"

Both looked at Chris King who just looked at him with a grin.

"How could you help?"

"Well, my power," he said, a little less sure of himself. "When I transform into random heroes, it is usually one well suited to the task I have to deal with. If I need to get us into that dome, I should be able to transform into someone with the capability of doing that." He scratched the back of his head, and gave a sheepish smile. "I mean, it couldn't hurt to try, right?"

After a moment, Waller nodded. "We'll give it a shot then. Let's see if all that help I arranged for you paid off."

Chris walked over to the dome, and focused of the energies that he had internalized from when used an H Dial to transform into never before seen superheroes. The fragment of a cosmic egg that Waller had obtained for him served to help him as his focus, as if he were now becoming heroes from one specific location. He wasn't sure what else he could learn about the heroes he became, but he was determined to learn more of the secrets of the power he had.

Instantly, Chris was changed into a male figure incased in black energy with only his eyes shown as two large, white diamonds.

"So, you need to get inside," the dark figure said, as he floated off the ground. "That sounds like a job for… Doorman!" The new hero flew over to the dome, his frame enlarging as he pressed himself against it. "There we are. Now all you have to do is walk right through me and you will be on the other side!"

"I'm not walking through someone!" complained Goldface, looking skeptically at the dark image pressed up against the ebony dome. Several others began to make similar rumbles, including a few of the heroes.

"Not a problem, people!" said one of the Knights. "I got the answer right here!" Snapper Carr adjusted his remote for J.A.K.E. 2, and began marching the robot toward where Doorman was waiting. The robot didn't even hesitate as it continued through the dark energies that made up Doorman's body.

"He's through!" Snapper declared. "And the signal is clear as a bell."

Before anyone else could protest, Snapper hurried through the portal to where J.A.K.E. 2 was.

People started moving closer to Doorman, but none seemed to want to go after Snapper or the robot.

"Hey, bring plenty of flashlights because it's real dark in here, people!" Snapper's voice shouted through the opening causing several people to flinch.

Dale Gunn hurried forward, nodding to Waller and the others as he passed them. "Stupid, impetuous kid," he could be heard muttering as he walked through the portal that was Doorman.

Waller then shot a glare to the rest of those watching. "Well?" she asked. "What are you all waiting for? You got your way in; use it already."

Faith started towards Doorman, followed immediately by Riley Finn. Sirius Black gave a nod to Ethan before going through himself. Several of the heroes passed through Doorman as well while a majority of the villains held back.

The Knights kept their weapons trained on the villains. Peacekeeper, Black Thorn, Huntress, Manhunter, and Blue Devil stood with the Knights, ready to take down the villains if they had to.

"Now I will just say this once," Amanda Waller stated to the masses, drawing their attention to her. "If you lot don't go through that portal being generated in the next three minutes, I will send off the signal that will detonate the explosives devices I mentioned to you earlier."

Spike threw his arms up in annoyance. "Well, so much for getting to watch a major smash-up here. C'mon, Clem, there's gotta be somethin' better through here." The vampire marched through Doorman, followed by the meek Loose-Skinned demon who gave a friendly wave to those behind him.

The villains began to deflate, and one by one they entered the portal. Several such as Penguin, Cheshire, and Deathstroke pausing to give Waller and the others a deadly glare. They were followed quickly by the remaining heroes and the group of Knights that were going along.

After the last person had passed through, Doorman ceased being a portal and joined the others inside the dome. The ebony hero almost immediately reverted back to Chris King, and stood standing next to Sirius Black. "Well, I guess that worked," he said with a grin.

The dome seemed even darker on the inside than it had on the outside. Despite the dark aspect of the dome, there was an eerie ambient lighting here and there that almost seemed like a will-o'-the-wisp but more spread over areas, slowly moving around due to a none-existent wind. The only other light came from Arkham itself and a few street lamps.

They found that they were standing just outside the main gate of the Arkham facility with the name ' _Arkham Asylum_ ' fashioned in metal above it. On the other side of the iron bar gate stood a large gothic manor that had been expanded and converted into a mental facility for the criminally insane.

"This place looks rather creepy," murmured the Pied Piper.

"Hmm," Trickster made an acknowledging sound. "Did you know that H.P. Lovecraft centered several of his short stories around a sanatorium in a fictional city in Massachusetts called Arkham."

The Pied Piper let out a groan. "And now you've just made this place even creepier."

Goldface scratched his chin. "So was Lovecraft ever a patient here?"

Trickster shrugged. "No clue."

"Who cares?" growled Heatwave. "Let's just get this done so we can get out of here. Hopefully in one piece."

Faith was of a similar mind, so she had the two of the strongest members of their group, Director Bones and Metallo, tear open the front gate.

"Someone was bound to hear that," complained Lady Vic, as she tried to shake off the shivers that had come upon her at hearing the bending metal complain.

"Hey," snapped Hellhound. "My dogs have the scent of something." His three attack dogs were indeed growling at something in that direction where a group of trees were.

"There's just over three dozen people in the trees," announced Hitman after using his vision powers.

"So what do we do?" asked Heatstroke as she floated above Coldsnap.

"Let's go say hello," remarked Lady Shiva, as she began moving forward.

"We won't have to." Merlyn drew an arrow to place on his bow. "They are already coming to us."

The impromptu Suicide Squad waited as a dark group of people came from out of the copse of trees.

"Ah, Penguin, is that you?"

Penguin squinted warily into the darkness as the group came closer into the light shining from the nearby light pole. "That depends. Who are you?"

"I'm hurt that you've forgotten your old pal, Louie the Lilac."

He was a smiling, older man who wore a suit and hat in violet colors, including a sprig of lilac in his lapel and another in his hatband, though his hat looked somewhat battered. He was a small time mob boss who decided to try a gimmick to obtain more respect and recognition. His research paid off with several usual ways to mutate lilacs, including pollen to hypnotize people, and creating his special man-eating lilacs.

"L-Louie?" sputtered Cobblepot in surprise.

The man next to Louie was also older, and more rotund, as well as being dressed in the apparel of an Egyptian pharaoh.

"And Pharaoh?" Penguin squeaked.

"Of course you would recognize someone of my eminence," stated the man decked out in Egyptian finery. "My visage is known far and wide throughout the land of the Nile!" Originally, Pharaoh was known as William Omaha McElroy, a highly regarded professor of Egyptology at Yale University. After being hit in the head with a rock, he believed that he was the reincarnation of King Tuthamaken and that Gotham was really the ancient city of Thebes that he had to reclaim as his.

"Ah, Penguin," said a third person moving out of the shadows. "Have you, too, been cast down to Tartarus as my siblings managed to do to me?"

"M-Maxie Zeus?"

The toga wearing man wearing a Roman crown of laurels on his head stalked forward. He had been a history teacher who lost his mind and thought he was the incarnation of the Greek god Zeus. He managed to use his cunning, intelligence and zealot drive to become a rising, if unstable, figure in the Gotham underworld.

"Or were you sent down here to slacken my inhuman thirst." Maxie Zeus' face seemed to warp into something far less human just before lunging at Penguin.

"Hiya, Maxie!"

Harley Quinn interposed herself as she swung her mallet up, catching Maxie Zeus in the face, causing him to fall backwards hard onto the grass.

The vampire snarled in pain and fury, his hands pressed against his injured head. "You dare to smite the mighty Zeus?"

Harley turned her mallet around, then shoved the sharpened wooden handle deep into his dead heart. "How's that for an answer, Maxie?"

The vampire barely had time to howl out in pain and outrage before suddenly bursting into dust. Penguin fell backwards in shock, his hand held up to his mouth in horror.

"She killed Maxie!" cried out Louie the Lilac, stating the obvious in his shock.

"Get them!" commanded Pharaoh, his face morphing. "Make them pay! Capture them alive so that they can be tortured. Then we can crush their bodies and squeeze out every drop of their blood for our mouths to feast upon!" The group of doctors, orderlies, guards and patients behind him all rushing forward to get at the fleshy blood bags.

"Stop talking," Huntress responded, shooting an arrow from her crossbow into Pharaoh's chest, reverting his corpse to ash.

Faith raised her hand up in a fist, to stop her people for a moment. "Let the inexperienced go first! This newbie vamp pack will prove to be good for practice."

Xander charged into the rushing vampires using the strength of the hyena spirit as well as the fighting knowledge of the soldier he had once been on a long ago Halloween. Joining him into the melee were the two hyenas, Bud and Lou, who tore savagely into any portion of the vampires they could get their teeth into.

"Babies!" Harley rushed forward to defend her pet hyenas, smashing, kicking, and stabbing any vampires that got in her way.

Huntress was about to shoot a second vampire when Faith put a hand on her crossbow. Faith kept her eyes on the fighting that was just starting to pick up as she spoke. "I meant what I said. Let the others have a chance. They need some experience of how to handle the bloodsuckers, and the newly turned vamps make the easiest to slay. That said, keep your arrow ready in case one of our team starts to have too much trouble."

Huntress didn't like the idea. The very presence of these monsters pulled at something primal inside her that told her that they needed to be destroyed immediately. But she had to agree with Faith that her team did need more familiarity on how to destroy these things.

Both women watched at members of their team faced off against these creatures of the night. Manhunter stunned an orderly with his baton, then pulled out a wooden stake from his belt and slammed it through the monster's chest. Lady Vic slashed out with her short sword almost decapitating it, which proved enough damage for it to turn to dust.

Hellhound had squared off with two vampires that had once been patients at Arkham. His three attack dogs were tearing into the undead creatures, but were suffering damage as well.

Blue Devil leveled his trident to fry one vampire, while kicking another away to where Trickster was able to wrap the string of his yo-yo around it's neck just before using his specially designed shoes to haul the vampire up, swinging by its neck until he was high over the metal fence. Only then did Trickster release the vampire to gravity's pull, letting it be impaled in multiple places by the metal spikes on the fence.

Down below, the Pied Piper had three vampires dancing a jig while the Question went behind them one at a time and staked them through the back.

Catwoman hissed at a vampire that had apparently once been a female doctor at Arkham. She used her whip to keep her away, then used it to snag the vampire's ankle and yanked hard to cause her to fall backwards. The wooden stake that she had been given had pierced her heart before the vampire could do more than hit her.

Coldsnap encased the legs of two vampires in a block of ice. His girlfriend, Heatstroke, flew down and shot out a flare of flames that flash-fried the trapped vampires, almost instantly converting them to ash.

Sirius Black had fired several _reducto_ s, neatly beheading the vampires before Black Thorn stopped and explained the impromptu training exercise Faith was implementing. It took both of them to get Peacemaker to stop blowing them away.

Tommy Monaghan, otherwise known as Hitman, saw the good that the practice of vampire slayer training could have for the others. Not that he needed any practice in killing. But he was surprised at one person who seemed to be becoming unglued.

Heaving a sigh of annoyance, Hitman walked over to where the terrified person was trying to scamper off.

"You aren't going to survive that way," he spoke up, smacking the man on his head. "You are literally trapped in here with these things. The only way out is to deal with them, and by that I mean ' _destroy them_ '. Got it?"

The terrified man straightened up enough so that Hitman could look into Cobblepot's terrified eyes. "Enough is enough," Hitman said. Reaching down, he grabbed the back of Cobblepot's expensive custom made suit and hauled him to his feet. "You see this guy?" He pointed out at a large vampire baring down on them who had been a guard before he died. "He want to drink the blood from our torn throats."

At the last possible moment, Hitman pulled out his gun and shot the vampire in both shoulders, knocking the creature flat onto its back. He then shot it in a kneecap for good measure.

Hitman now dragged Cobblepot over to the groaning vampire writhing on the grass. "Now, Cobblepot, are you not one of the most feared underworld crime bosses in Gotham? Aren't people terrified to go against you? Can't you hold your own among the most dangerous people in the world?" Hitman causally dropped him next the large injured vampire. "Are you a man? A mouse?" He let a wooden stake land between them. "Well?"

Cobblepot stared at the stake for a second, then to the vampire that was trying to roll towards him. Cobblepot snatched up the stake as he sat up. Leaning over the vampire, he slammed the stake into the vampire's chest several times before actually hitting the heart. "I'm the Penguin!" he shouted as the ashes of the vampire spread in the air around him.

Hitman offered the hard breathing Penguin a cigarette. "Knew you had it in you."

Penguin grumbled as he got to his feet, but accepted the cigarette just the same. "I won't be startled like that again," he muttered, partially to himself as well as to Monaghan.

Monaghan nodded. "Believe it or not, quite a few people freak out the first time on the battlefield when everything is going crapola around them. Most don't have a problem after that so you should be good now."

The Penguin nodded, as he flexed his grip on the stake.

Hitman shot another vampire that was baring down on them. This time only in the leg. "Here. Give it another go."

The Penguin looked reluctant for a moment. Then a snarl appeared on his face, and he leapt at the wounded vampire, swinging his wooden stake viciously.

"Geez, didn't you ever learn where the heart is in school?" Monaghan grumbled, watching as the Penguin repeatedly stabbed away at the vampire.

"Hey, what are you all doing?" demanded Metallo. "It's like you guys are all fighting air."

Heatwave let out a blast with his heatgun, frying up two vamps that were trying to circle around the group. "Hell, you know how vampires aren't able to be seen in mirrors or by cameras. Well," he sent out another bout of fire and caught a vampire in a cooking uniform. "I don't think your visual sensors are able to process the vampires' images for you either," he explained to the cyborg.

"How the hell am I supposed to fight them if I can't even see them?" Metallo complained

"Sucks to be you. But if you want to see how you handle them, walk directly ahead thirty feet; you'll run right into them."

John Corben had taken being turned into a cyborg in stride. There had been moments of anger, depression, suicidal and homicidal tendencies, but he believed he had handled it better than most. He had used the opportunity to make a name for himself as a professional supervillain. He thought nothing of going up against the likes of Superman; in fact he preferred it.

"Fine." He stomped forward. He had to know what he was dealing with. He had to learn sooner than later what he can do against these invisible (to him at least) opponents.

Something seemed to strike him in the face, and he heard an outcry of pain. He reached outward, but only found empty air.

There was another hit to his left. This time Metallo reached out fast and caught something that struggled to get away. He guessed he had the vampire by the arm, so he followed the arm down to the main body, being struck several times as he did so. When he was sure that he had both arms of the vampire, he used his cybernetic strength to swing it all around to hit any other vampires that he couldn't see. There were several thumps as his invisible bludgeoning weapon seemed to encounter several other invisible objects to crash into until after a few moments there was a slight flash of burning in front of him in roughly the size of a person before it became dust blown away by a slight breeze.

"Ha! That was something!" roared Heat Wave. "Now if you will step back, I'll light up the ones you knocked out or maimed."

The Creeper jumped onto the back of another undead adversary, grabbed it's head and gave a savage twist, reverting the vampire into ash. He didn't know about the vampire that stabbed him in the back with a pair of hedge clippers until it was too late.

"Oh good, your blood is red," the vampire said cruelly into his ear. "I wasn't sure it would be since your skin is bright yellow." He gave the clippers a savage twist when the Creeper tried to pull away. "Now, now. There no going anywhere. I haven't had my drink yet, and you're my personal drinking fountain."

A skeletal hand came down on the vampire's skull, applying superhuman pressure. "I'm sorry, but all drinking fountains are out of order right now."

The vampire released the Creeper as it tried to deal with the horrible, burning pressure on his scalp. "It burns!"

Director Bones nodded with satisfaction. "I wasn't sure my cyanide touch would affect vampires. It's good to know that it can." He applied the finally bit of pressure needed to crush the skull of the vampire who was no more.

Bones then turned to see the Creeper agonizingly pulling the hedge clippers out of his back. "Creeper, I'll call one of the Knights. They should be able to give you some first aid."

"Unnecessary, kind mortal." The yellow-skinned hero slowly straightened up, shifting from side to side.

"Your injury," protested Bones.

"Tis but a scratch," the Creeper replied dismissively as his wound closed up on its own. Then he bounded off to tackle a vampire that was getting the better of a fallen Knight.

"Remarkable," Director Bones said. "I wonder if his healing ability could be duplicated?"

"This is all so unnecessary," complained a voice behind him.

Bones looked down at one of his few lifelong companions. "We need to gauge their strengths and weaknesses."

"Still stupid," went on Baby Boom. While in her twenties, she was still in the body of a toddler, a fact that irked her to no end. "Especially when I can just do this."

She held out her hand, and most of the remaining vampires in her line of sight suddenly exploded.

"What the hell?" shouted Lady Vic, as she beat furiously at where her hair had caught fire. "Give some warning next time before you do that, whoever did that!"

"That would be me, little miss Brit," Baby Boom called out. "And I don't give warnings." She followed that by sticking out her tongue.

Lady Vic fumed, but knew better than to argue with someone that could make people blow up at any time they wanted.

Faith started walking around. "Alright everyone, how are we doing for injuries?" She noted one of the Knights had been killed, and two others injured, but only minorly. The heroes and villains seemed to have only received minor injuries if any. She had overheard Snapper complaining to Gunn that there had been too many people in the way to try use J.A.K.E.. Fortunately, Gunn had agreed that it was better to err on the side of caution before trying something he wasn't totally sure about, which was advice Faith more than agreed with.

"Tell me someone kept a vamp alive to interrogate," Faith called out.

"Here."

Faith walked over to where Lady Shiva stood over her prey. Louie the Lilac had had one of his legs amputated, and was now being pinned to the ground by the trident of the Blue Devil.

Louie looked up anxiously at everyone. Gritting his teeth in pain, he managed to finally speak. "Can't we talk about this?"

¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`

 **AuThOr'S NoTeS**

 _Okay, the quickly rounded up Suicide Squad is on the move._

 _I would like to recommend one story I came across that surprised me. It's called_ _Polarity_ _and it is written by Chris Myers. Very well done. It's about how some Marvel villains handle a Romero-style zombie outbreak. I'm not really a fan of zombies, but this story is something else altogether. I couldn't stop reading it, and hopefully a few of you out there will like it to._

 **Glossary** **:**

 **Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane –** A prison in Gotham City where many of Batman's enemies are imprisoned for treatment.

 **Baby Boom** \- One of the six genetically mutated children that formed the villain group Helix. Her mutation kept her in the form of a young toddler, while she also received the ability to explode things with her mind.

 **Belle Reve –** A prison in Louisiana specially designed to incarcerate metahumans which also services as the headquarters of the Suicide Squad.

 **Black, Sirius** – A pure-blood wizard with a dog Animagus form. Sirius had been framed for the murder of James and Lily Potter by Peter Pettigrew, and was imprisoned for over a decade without a trial. Then seeing a need to protect his godson, Harry Potter, he escaped. Two years later, he had gone to rescue his godson again, only to be blasted through the Veil of Death by his cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange. * _In my story, the Veil of Death is actually a portal to another dimension. The Suicide Squad accidently found him floating around and brought him to their dimension. He uses his powers to help the Suicide Squad, creating things like portkeys, but rarely goes on missions himself. He is searching for a way home._

 **Blackgate Penitentiary –** A Gotham prison that houses many of the harshest criminals and Batman's villains.

 **Black Thorn / Thorne, Elizabeth –** She went from rich, partying socialite to becoming a CIA agent. Deciding that she wanted her freedom, she faked her death and became a costumed vigilante. She met and fell in love with the Vigilante II. But it all fell apart when he briefly went insane and then killed himself, leaving her to pick up the pieces of her life. * _For my story, Amanda Waller took Black Thorn in and had her work in a small version of the Suicide Squad to aid the Slayer take down monsters._

 **Blue Devil / Cassidy, Daniel –** Daniel Patrick Cassidy is a special effects wizard and stuntman hired to create and play the title character in the movie _Blue Devil_. To that end Cassidy creates a full-body costume with a hidden powered exoskeleton and built-in special-effects devices. When two of his co-stars accidentally free a demon named Nebiros, Cassidy uses his costume to drive the demon back, but not before being blasted with mystical energy. After the fight, Cassidy finds that the blast has permanently grafted the Blue Devil costume to his body. Blue Devil wielded a trident of his own design which included, among other things, rocket engines capable of carrying two people at high speeds.

 **Bug / Bonner, Bernard 'Barney'** – While being raised by their single mom, he and his sister one day accidently touched two live wires electrocuting themselves. Their father used it as an excuse to take full custody of the kids. The kids felt abandoned by their mother, and they hated living with their alcoholic father. Their powers began to kick in ten years later, and Blythe began manipulating her brother so that they could track down their mother and get revenge. Firestorm intervened, and the teens were taken into custody. * _In my story, I have Bug and his mother join Checkmate. He uses his computer abilities in various ways, but his mother refuses to allow him to go on missions._

 **Bullock, Harvey –** Bullock had been a crooked police detective under instructions from Gotham City's Mayor Hamilton Hill to sabotage Commissioner Gordon's career. His method of doing so was to pretend to be exceedingly clumsy, thereby spoiling whatever Gordon is trying to do, seemingly accidentally. After inadvertently giving Gordon a heart attack, however, Bullock turns over a new leaf. He has a dislike of costumed heroes and villains, though he has some respect for Batman. Later on Amanda Waller brings him in as a Bishop in the spy organization Checkmate. He is well known for his snarky comments, bad hygiene and bad eating habits.

 **Carr, Lucas '** ** _Snapper_** **' –** As a teen, Snapper managed to meet and lend aid to the newly formed Justice League of America. Somehow, he convinced the superheroes to be their mascot. Later he was tricked into betraying them to the Joker. After being rejected, he turned on the Justice League to the Key. Realizing how stupid he was, he tried to straighten his life up. Then he was captured by aliens and subjected to a deadly experiment that resulted in activating his metagene that gave him the ability to teleport. Eventually, he returned to Earth and joined Checkmate as a Pawn. * _For my story, I have Snapper join Checkmate earlier than in regular continuity._

 **Catwoman / Kyle, Selina –** A cat burglar with an on-again, off-again, romantic relationship with Batman. She is incredibly acrobatic and skilled with a whip.

 **Checkmate –** **Checkmate** is a government "spy" agency with a hierarchy revolving around the pieces in the classic board game, _Chess_ , with Kings & Queens being the leaders, the Bishops oversee missions behind the scenes, the Rooks plan the missions, the Knights carry out the missions and the Pawns are the support staff. The agency was set up by Amanda "the Wall" Waller as its first Queen to serve as a branch of Task Force X, which also included the black ops organization called the Suicide Squad. The Agency was first set up by Amanda Waller to serve as a small branch of Task Force X under the command of Colonel Valentina Vostok (formerly Negative Woman of the Doom Patrol) to perform operations worldwide considered vital to the security of American interests.

 **Cheshire / Nguyen, Jade –** A deadly international terrorist and one of the world's greatest and most ruthless assassins. Her skills include mastery over physical combat, various weaponry and is an expert on exotic poisons.

 **Clem –** A Loose-Skinned demon, generally non-violent, but when attacked they will defend themselves by releasing multi-colored snake-like tentacles from beneath the skin folds of their face. This kind of demon feeds mostly on emotions, particularly embarrassment.

 **Coldsnap** **/ Darryl** – Due to a lab accident, he found that he has cold powers. He became a mercenary to raise the money needed to determine how to remove his and his girlfriend's powers.

 **Creeper / Ryder, Jack –** A left-wing talk show host who is able to transform into a super-strong, super-fast healing, semi-insane maniac hero.

 **Deadline** – A metahuman assassin who flies around on two discs. He usually uses a sniper rifle. His skin is extremely dense making him impervious to pain. He can also phase himself and any object he touched through solid materials.

 **Deathstroke the Terminator / Wilson, Slade –** Took part in an experimental super-soldier project that gave him enhanced strength, agility and intelligence. Thus he became the world's greatest assassin/mercenary.

 **Doorman / Davis, DeMarr –** A mutant with limited teleportation abilities connected to the Darkforce Dimension. By pressing himself against a solid surface, he could make his body a portal that people could walk through to get to the other side. He was a member of the Great Lake Avengers.

 **Finn, Riley** – He was a covert operative for the United States as a part of the Initiative. Now he's demon hunter. Also a former boyfriend of Buffy Summers.

 **Goldface / Kenyon, Keith** – After drinking down a gold-based serum, it gave him superhuman strength, invulnerability, as well as exhibit a golden glow that made him appear yellow. Keith decided to become a super-villain and went after the Green Lantern, and later the Flash. After years of being defeated by super-heroes, he finally just served his time in prison and reformed. He decided to follow his father's footsteps and became a union leader, rising in the ranks to lead Keystone City's largest labor force. * _For my story, Goldface was caught trying to cover a Union matter up, so he's agreed to do a mission on the Suicide Squad to keep the matter hushed up._

 **Gunn, Dale –** He was in charge of an underground bunker in Detroit that was being used by the Justice League for a time, during which he had a relationship with Zatanna. * _For my story, Dale is asked to join Checkmate where he meets and begins a relationship with Belle Haney._

 **Haney, Belle –** A divorced mother, raising her two kids, Belle lost custody of the kids, Blythe and Barney, after they accidently electrocuted themselves touching live wires.Their father used it as an excuse to take full custody of the kids. The kids felt abandoned by their mother, and they hated living with their alcoholic father. Belle struggled to move on with her life, and worked in the scientific community. Eventually, she was targeted by her mentally unstable kids who had developed superpowers from their accidental electrocution. Fortunately, she was saved by Firestorm. * _For my story, I have her get custody of her son, and agree to help Checkmate as long as they help her son and daughter. While working there, she has started a relationship with Dale Gunn._

 **Harley, Quinn / Quinzel, Harley –** An Arkham psychiatrist who fell in love with the Joker, leading her to lose her mind. Her 'mad love' led her to freeing the Joker, following him into a life of crime. When he tossed her aside, Poison Ivy gave her a potion that enhanced her strength, speed, and agility so that she could get revenge on the Joker. Unfortunately, Harley would have and on and off relationship with the Joker.

 **Harris, Alexander '** ** _Xander_** **'** – One of Buffy's closest friends, Xander supported her through many of her worst times, and remained at her side from the first day she arrived at Sunnydale.

 **Heatstroke** **/ Joanne –** Due to a lab accident, she discovers that she has heat powers as well as the ability to fly. She became a mercenary to raise the money needed to determine how to remove her and her boyfriend's powers.

 **Heatwave / Rory, Mick** – During a school field trip, Mick had been locked into a slaughterhouse freezer overnight. Upon his rescue the next morning, Mick became obsessed with fire and heat. While still at a young age, he burned down his home, killing his family. He then made a heat gun and wore an asbestos protective suit, used fire to rob and kill. Eventually, Mick went straight, and took a job as a firefighting consultant.

 **Hellhound / Kai** – An assassin who is an attack-dog trainer and a skilled martial artist.

 **Hitman / Monaghan, Tommy** – He grew up in Gotham City and became a hitman. After being bitten by an alien parasite which gave him the x-ray vision and telepathy, which Monaghan used to take on contracts on other super humans.

 **H.I.V.E. (the** **H** **ierarchy of** **I** **nternational** **V** **engeance and** **E** **xtermination) –** A group of criminal scientists dedicated to striking out against their enemies. Their foot soldiers were promised immortality for their allegiance.

 **Huntress / Bertinelli, Helena –** She blames organized crime for killing her family. To avenge them, she trained and became a costumed vigilante.

 **J.A.K.E. 2 (Jungle Automatic Killer – Experimental Number 2 / G.I. Robot –** A replacement for J.A.K.E. 1, it was created to be a fully autonomous mechanical soldier, capable of making decisions and adapting, though still needing a human handler. It is armor plated with its left arm consisting of a fully functional machine gun, mini-torpedoes, and small anti-aircraft missiles. It can even fly short distances due to small rockets in its boots.

 **Joker –** The Joker is a serial killer and a super-villain, a dangerous madman who dresses like a clown and commits violent crimes. He is often recognized as Batman's greatest enemy, living in and terrorizing Gotham City, although he spends most of his time in Arkham Asylum. In addition to being a deadly and unpredictable physical combatant, he is a brilliant and ruthless criminal mastermind. His crimes require no motivation other than his sadistic desire to show people the meaninglessness of life through pain and death, and the narcissism to see the world remade in his own image

 **King, Christopher '** ** _Chris_** **' –** He and his friend Vicki Grant found two H Dials that would transform them into previously never seen before superheroes with a wide variety of powers and abilities. Eventually, he had somehow internalized the power of the H Dial and would turn into a new hero every hour, and he sought aid at S.T.A.R. Labs. * _For my story, Amanda Waller was able to procure a fragment of the cosmic egg, with which he is able to become superheroes from the Marvel universe._

 **Knights** – Knights are Checkmate operatives who as normal human spies with high tech, gold and black armored bodysuits and gear.

 **Lady Vic –** Descending from a line of wealthy English aristocratic mercenaries, she wields the heirlooms of her descendants trade (Flintlock Pistols and various melee weapons) with an exceptional degree of skill.

 **Lady Shiva –** One of the world's greatest martial artists. She is a human weapon living for the thrill of a good fight.

 **Lehane, Faith / the Dark Slayer –** Shortly after Faith had become activated as a Slayer by the death of the Slayer Kendra, her Watcher was killed. She went to Sunnydale to join the other Slayer, reveling in her funny, free-spirited nature. But when she actually killed a man, mistaking him for a vampire, her childhood insecurities from various traumas flared, so she framed Buffy for the killing. Eventually, the truth came out, and Faith ended up joining the evil Mayor Wilkins with whom she formed a strange bond with. During another fight with Buffy, Faith had been put into a coma. When she awoke, Wilkins was dead, so she tried getting revenge on Buffy. Finally, Angel, tries to redeem her, so she surrenders herself to the Los Angeles Police Department. * _For my story, Amanda Waller thought Faith rotting in prison was a waste, so she set Faith up to be part of a type of supernatural Suicide Squad that worked from the shadows, killing monsters._

 **Louie the Lilac –** Louie the Lilac was a mobster identified by his violet colored suit. He was known to use different lilacs, sometimes mutant breeds, to use against his enemies, such as a flower on his jacket that hypnotized people so he could manipulate them, or his special man-eating lilacs.

 **Manhunter / Shaw, Mark –** a former member of the Manhunter sect on Earth, he turned on them when he learned they were androids. Shaw served time in prison and joined the Suicide Squad to reduce his sentence. He continued use of his Manhunter gear and became a bounty hunter and hunted costumed criminals for the bounty.

 **Maxie Zeus / Zeus, Maximillian –** He was originally a history teacher of Greek mythology. Somehow he lost his mind and believes that he is the incarnation of the Greek god Zeus. He believed it to be his destiny to create a new Olympus for him to rule over. In order to do that he became a crime lord in Gotham.

 **Merlyn –** A deadly bow-wielding assassin.

 **Metallo / Corben, John –** A con man who was fatally injured in a car accident, Corben was found by a cybernetic specialist Professor Emmet Vale who transferred Corben's brain into a specially designed cyborg body powered by kryptonite. Ever since, Corben has been a professional criminal.

 **Mister Bones / Director Bones** – Bones' pregnant mother was injected by an experimental mutagenic drug by an insane Dr. Love, who took the baby and five others that were similarly treated. He is super-strong, his body is invisible except for his bones, and his skin kills with a cyanide touch. He was the leader of Helix, and often fought against Infinity Inc, and once on trial was paroled into the hands of Infinity Inc. until he was forced to the kill the leader, Skyman. At some point after Infinity, Inc. disbanded, Mr. Bones became Director of a local branch of the U.S. Department of Extranormal Operations (D.E.O.), and as a D.E.O., Director Bones has had numerous interactions with the operations of the superhuman community. His left leg is a sophisticated prosthetic.

 **Mister Freeze / Fries, Victor** – A super-villain enemy of Batman who fights using cold-themed weapons. Formerly a scientist working in cryogenics, he had dedicated his life to finding a cure for his wife Nora Fries' terminal illness. Following a horrible lab accident, he became dependent on sub-zero temperatures to survive and began using his experimental inventions to commit crimes in efforts to fund his research. This also requires an exo-skeleton that keeps him constantly freezing. Losing touch with humanity over time, he eventually turns into a colder and more sadistic psychopath.

 **Oracle / Gordon, Barbara** – Barbara Gordon was the first Batgirl until she was brutally shot by the Joker, rendering her paralyzed from the waist down. Barbara reinvented herself as Oracle, providing intelligence to the Suicide Squad, but not allowing anyone to know who she is.

 **Peacemaker / Smith, Christopher** – Traumatized at an early age by seeing his father kill himself and then learning his father was in command of a Nazi concentration camp in Poland, Smith grew up seeing visions of his father speaking to him. After serving in the military, he returned to his rich family holdings. Believing he could make things better, he became Peacemaker, a one-man-army with high tech weapons. Unfortunately, he became mentally ill as he believed that his father's spirit was haunting him and that the souls of all those he could not save lived in his helmet.

 **Penguin / Cobblepot, Oswald –** He was tormented as a child for his short, stubby appearance and long nose. As a means of dealing with it he immersed himself in the study of birds. Still feeling like an outcast, he decided to begin a life of crime as the Penguin. After many run-ins with Batman, and going to prison, he decided to change the way he did things and created a socialite club called the Iceberg Lounge. From there, he managed many aspects of criminal activity in Gotham, but for the most part, kept any evidence of it from the police.

 **Pharaoh / McElroy, William Omaha –** William Omaha McElroy was a highly regarded professor of Egyptology at Yale University. One day he was at work when a student protest turned vicious, and rocks were thrown. One such rock hit McElroy, knocking him out. When he regained consciousness, he believed that he was the reincarnation of King Tuthamaken and that Gotham is the ancient city of Thebes. His ultimate goal is to claim Gotham—that is, Thebes—as his own.

 **Pied Piper / Rathaway, Hartley –** Hartley was born deaf, but received hearing implants at a young age thanks to his rich parents. He became obsessed with sound. Soon, he discovered a form of hypnotism with music, as well as ways to use vibrations as weapons. Having become bored with his life, he became a super-villain and fought the Flash. After the second Flash died, Hartley retired from crime to become a socialist champion for the poor and underprivileged. He also came out as gay.

 **Question / Sage, Vic –** An investigative reporter who felt the need to go out and find answers. He wears an experimental mask that makes him look faceless. He is also a great martial artist and detective.

 **Rayne, Ethan –** a chaos-worshiping magic-wielder who loves causing trouble and often used dark magic. * _For my story, Ethan was remanded into Amanda Waller's_ _at is forced to use his magic for her needs._

 **Spike / Pratt, William / '** ** _William the Bloody_** **' –** In infamous vampire, Spike began to help Buffy in battle once he could no longer harm humans thanks to a microchip the Initiative put in his head.

 **Spook / Kaliban, Val –** A costumed villain and enemy to Batman. He is an expert hypnotist and escapologist, who uses theatrical effects to simulate supernatural events. These are used to enthrall his victims while he commits crimes.

 **Suicide Squad / Task Force X** – A team of super-villains running missions for the government in exchange for reduced prison sentences.

 **Sweet Tooth –** An overweight villain with a candy motif. He appears to preform crimes more for the thrill of it than anything else.

 **Trickster / Jesse, James** – James grew up as a circus acrobat. To create a more spectacular act, he managed to make shoes that could literally walk on air. Becoming greedy, he made a gaudy harlequin-ish costume, created several dangerous gimmick weapons, and found himself taken down by the Flash. After years of being defeated by the Flash, James had a change of heart and decided to turn his life around after tricking Neron and helping to save the world. Soon, he was recruited by the FBI, and was considered something of a specialist when it came to the superhero and super-villain communities, especially in regards to the Rogues.

 **Waller, Amanda '** ** _The Wall_** **'** – She's a hardline top-ranking U.S. Government agent involved in clandestine operations. Despite her non-threatening physical appearance, she is almost universally feared as one of the most ruthless women in espionage and politics. She created and runs the Suicide Squad, and has had a hand in the development of several other government organized groups.

 **Wild Dog / Wheeler, Jack** – A former marine, he was tired of the ongoing crime, so he became a vigilante, armed with a Jatimatic GG-95 PDW submachine gun and a pair of electrified "shock gloves", his costume consists of camouflage pants, combat boots, a local college football jersey emblazoned with a snarling red dog (hiding his protective body armor), and a hockey mask to conceal his identity. * _For my story, Wild Dog was captured by Amanda Waller, and then inducted into her small Suicide Squad designed to aid the Slayer kill monsters._


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

 **by Ordinaryguy2**

 **COURTYARD**

 **BELLE REVE PENITENTIARY, LOUISIANA**

Despite the blackness of the impenetrable dome over the prison facilities, the electric lights lit up the courtyard almost like it was day. Captured prisoners were being herded to a congregation of people that were consulting with a diminutive man with a large hat.

"No! No! No! That will never do!" proclaimed the man with the overly large, green top hat. "As much as I love to see someone hung by their own intestines, we have been ordered to increase our ranks." Jervis Tetch, otherwise known as the Mad Hatter, let his fingers drum against his chin, as if in deep thought.

"He shot off my hand!" shouted Film Freak, holding his left arm up to show the stump where his hand should have been.

The Mad Hatter sighed dramatically before taking a sip from his teacup. "Yes, I can see how that would be a problem. I mean, how can you hold your teacup while spooning in sugar if you only have one hand? No, that won't do. However, I do have an alternative. I could have a trowel or some other tool placed in the stump where your hand was."

The villain known as Film Freak stood there stunned in a moment of uncertainty at the absurdity of that statement1. "A trowel?"

The Mad Hatter shrugged. "Or a pickax. As you are a film lover, I thought you might want to have something dramatic, something with cinematic pizzazz! Maybe an icepick!" He paused to frown. "Then again, this is Louisiana; they probably don't have many icepicks lying around."

The insane film fanatic-turned vampire was now looking at his stump with a look of consideration. "Maybe a sickle would work, I guess. A kind of ' _Children Of The Corn_ ' look."

The Mad Hatter held up his cup as if giving a toast. "I knew you would see it my way! I'm sure one of the doctors we have in our ranks must have some surgical skills. They should be able to attach you to whatever device you decide on. And as a bonus for your positive outlook on things, I'm going to let you take off one of the hands of the guard that shot you."

An insane predatory gleam crossed the vampiric face of Film Freak as he looked down at the wounded guard lying on the ground trying to keep anymore of his intestines from falling out of his body.

"After that," continued the Mad Hatter, "I'll let you have him for a fledgling. So you might want to find a second limb attachment for him when he revives. As well as stuff his fluff back in him. We need gutsy soldiers for our king and queen, after all." He nodded happily at his decision. When he noticed that Film Freak was still just standing there. "Well, get to it already. Or I'll give the guard to someone else."

A sharp-toothed grin appeared on his face, and Film Freak lunged forward onto the trembling, dying guard. The creature of the night latched onto the hand of the poor guard and began to savagely gnaw his hand off. Fortunately, the guard passed out before he could do much screaming.

Jervis Tetch clapped his hands in merriment. "Ah, isn't it wonderful that everything has worked out! This calls for more tea!"

Tweedledee, a short, bald, fat man dressed in an old fashioned tuxedo, gleefully took the Hatter's teacup over to where his cousin, Tweedledum, likewise attired, was standing next to where another guard was hanging upside down by his feet. Tweedledee carefully poured a splash of tea from a teapot, then handed the cup to his cousin. Tweedledum took the offered cup with a short bow, then turned to the upside down guard. A keg spigot had been jammed into the unconscious guard's throat where the jugular vein was located, and when Tweedledum turned the handle, fresh blood poured out into the teacup. Tweedledee then returned the teacup to the Mad Hatter who immediately sipped it with great relish.

"Ahhh, a thirty-four-year-old Italian with a splash of Earl Gray! A superb blend I must say!"

He looked up from his tea when someone politely coughed.

"Oh ho ho! Look what the Catman dragged in!" the diminutive undead madman gleeful announced.

The group of vampires that had been standing around attending to Jervis Tetch spread out to encircle the group of female prisoners that Catman had brought to them. The female prisoners, mostly from criminal organizations like H.I.V.E., Intergang, and the Church of Blood, clustered together in fear with only three exceptions- Carnivora, a savage alien from another world; Hyena, a were-hyena; and Dr. Poison, the granddaughter of the original Dr. Poison that had made her criminal career during WWII.

"There were some problems in getting to the female prisoners," Catman began to explain. "The heroine Vixen was encaged with the females when they went into lockdown. Calendar Man took offense to some words and used the guards' control panel to restore the powers to the prisoners. It's not that surprising that the prisoners didn't want to join our ranks, and instead used their powers to blockade us and escape through the back wall."

"That's disappointing," murmured the Mad Hatter. "And where is Calendar Man now?"

"NKVDemon took him and some others to circle around to chase the escapees. Sounds like the escapees may have run into Stingaree's group." Catman accepted a teacup from Tweedledee, and took a thirsty gulp.

"Anything else to report?" Tetch asked.

"Two of the prisoners have requested joining us. They even stayed behind when they could have escaped."

The Hatter clapped his hands together in glee. "Oh, really! How enlightened they must be!" He scanned the group of female prisoners expectedly.

Catman barked out a summons for the two volunteers. "Carnivora! Hyena! Step forward!"

The practically naked, yellow-skinned alien and the were-creature came forward, but they were followed by one of the other prisoners who bore a maddingly toothy grin that made her look like a victim of the Joker.

"Why do you dare come forward, blood bag? You weren't called for!" growled Catman. He then struck the dark-haired grinning woman in the face so that she fell back into the cluster of female convicts. When her head snapped up to look at them, she still bore her mad grin, though her teeth were covered in blood.

"That one may prove interesting," remarked Jervis. "She reminds me of a Cheshire cat I once knew." With a shake of his head he turned his attention back to the two females Catman had brought forward. "Now, dearies, what makes you what to come to our side?"

Carnivora showed her serrated teeth. "We are predators, not prey. You wish to hunt, to kill and tear, to devour and consume. We wish to hunt with you. To kill with you. To fight alongside you. To consume with you."

The Mad Hatter's fingers drummed along his jawline as he thought. "You're not from around here, are you?"

Carnivora's eyes gleamed. "This is not the world of my birth. My people live to kill. Trapped in the confines of these walls, I have not been able to hunt like I must. You present the opportunity for a great many hunts."

Jervis nodded with only a bit of casualness. "And your friend?"

Carnivora turned to her companion. "Hyena is a creature of savagery. Her nature and needs are similar to mine. She only wishes to hunt and kill and tear at flesh."

The Hyena let out a chilling laugh that sent shivers down peoples' spines. The cluster of prisoners shrieked in fear as they huddled together, while the vampires stepped back, waiting to see what to make of the monster.

"Hatter," spoke up one of the vampires. "It's a were-hyena. Rather rare due to the fact that it's kind are thorough when attacking prey. Hard to reproduce if it doesn't leave anything alive to pass it's curse onto. It also isn't subject to the full moon so it could transform at any moment."

"You've hunted this kind of creature?" the Mad Hatter asked the speaker, Gib Cain.

"Only once," Cain admitted. "Lost two friends to one of those things. Almost died myself. Had to leave everything. Better to cut my loses instead of my throat." Gib Cain had been a hunter since he was a teenager, and exalted in the thrill of the kill. Soon, hunting seemed to lose its wonder as he had a harder and harder time to find a suitable challenge, plus, he was facing legal problems for poaching. One day he had been hired by a rich plantation owner in the Philippines to stop a predator from attacking his herds. He and five other hunters had come to test their killing abilities, but the predator had proved to be a werewolf. That night, as the other hunters died around him, Cain had rediscovered the thrill of the hunt like never before. Here was something that was more challenging than hunting tigers and elephants! He quickly learned all there was to know about hunting werewolves, and had even tried his hand at collecting the pelt of a few other were-creatures. His first bit of real trouble had when he ran into some werewolf preservation activists in a small town called Sunnydale in California. A young blond girl with super-strength had sent him packing. He'd decided to give the west coast a wide berth for the time being, which brought him into contact with a client who expressed an interest in Gib obtaining a were-bat creature that the media had dubbed Man-Bat. It took him ten days to catch the freaky thing, but in doing so, Gib had also drawn the attention of Gotham City's costumed vigilante called the Batman. Gib had tried to reason with Batman. And when that didn't work, he tried attacking him. Once Cain was handed over to the Gotham City cops, they heard his story and sent him off to Arkham Asylum to be evaluated to see if he was criminally insane or just a criminal. But that didn't matter after the dome encased Arkham and everyone started being turned into vampires. Including him.

"Hmm, yes, I think our king and queen will like you two very much. In fact, they may not even want you turned. You could be exceptionally useful with problems that occur in the daylight. Yes, I will leave it to our king and queen to decide whether to turn you or not. Now why don't the two of you just go over and stand over by Tweedledum for right now while I and the rest take care of another matter."

The alien woman nodded to the were-hyena and they moved to stand over by the silly looking Tweedledum.

Jervis, then, jumped up from his seat, then gently took off his large top hat and placed it there, taking only a moment to dust it lightly with a handkerchief. Then, spinning on his heels, he addressed the fearful flock of females. "Ah, now, on to other matters, yes."

The other vampires in the room began to close in, except for Catman who decided to watch. None of the vampires attacked as they were clearly waiting for the signal from the Mad Hatter.

"Ah, now you, dear," Tetch politely said to the still grinning woman that Catman had struck earlier. "What is your name? Speak up!"

Dr. Poison tilted her head as she regarded the short man. "I call myself Dr. Poison, after my grandmother who was the first Dr. Poison during WWII."

"Ah, carrying on family traditions. Very noble of you," Jervis noted with approval. "I believe I have read about some of her homicidal career during my late night reading before slipping off to sleep. So I take it that with such a moniker that you have killed many people?"

"Hundred!" she gleefully proclaimed, her grin wider than ever.

He nodded in understanding, while his eyes seemed captivated by her bloody mouth. "And you wish to join us?"

"For a chance to kill even more? Yes!"

"Oh my little Cheshire." He reached out a finger and traced the blood on her lips before putting his finger in his mouth to suck off the blood. "You don't know how happy that makes me."

As if someone flipped a switch, his face twisted into something awful. When she only flinched in surprise, he lunged forward and latched onto her neck, sinking his teeth deep into her jugular vein. She spasmed in pain and shock but otherwise didn't struggle in his tight grip.

As if a starting gun had gone off, the circling vampires rushed forward, tackling the screaming women, most of whom were too terrified to put up much of a fight. Not that it mattered as the ladies were quickly overpowered by the super strong undead creatures.

¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`

 **STORAGE AREA IN THE WOMEN'S WING,**

 **BELLE REVE PENITENTIARY**

The warehouse in back of the women's cell area covered just over three thousand square feet. Even so, the sixty female inmates that managed to make it there were finding it crowded once the ten vampires moved in on them. Of the ladies, only eight had powers that they could use. That left most of them feeling like frightened sheep cornered by wolves.

The towering Knockout had taken to the fight right away and was merrily pounding on an undead office worker from Blackgate, quickly turning him to dust, when something heavy smashed into her from above. Being bred on Apokolips, she was made of sterner stuff, and was rolling away almost the moment she hit the floor. What greeted her was the horrific vamped out face of the villain known as Gorilla Boss, who was literally a mob boss who, after being executed by the state, had had his brain transplanted into the body of large gorilla by his henchmen.

"Aren't you a pretty face?" chuckled Knockout once she leapt to her feet.

The gorilla growled as he studied her build. "You killed my fledgling, such as he was. So you will take his place." His voice was raspy and guttural from disuse. Mob Boss George Dyke had been unable to speak after his brain had been transplanted into the body of a giant gorilla. But after also being turned into a vampire, the demonic essence had changed his body enough to give him the use of his vocal cords again.

Knockout swung with her left fist, and then her right, followed by a kick. All of which the Gorilla Boss managed to block thanks to his vampiric enhanced strength and reflexes. Even so, it was a close thing.

The gorilla grunted with admiration. "I think you will be an even better fledgling than the new one I left in the rafters."

Knockout charged forward only for the vamp ape to leap over her. "I won't be as easy a kill as Shimmer!"

The towering gorilla gave a toothy grin. "I surely hope not!"

Scandal, the daughter of Vandal Savage, was having her own difficulties with the knife aficionado known as Dagger. Mostly this was due to the fact that not only did the man have vampire strength and reflexes, but he had knives sheathed in multiple places in his purple bodysuit while she only had a toothbrush sharpened into a shank and an awkward fragment of a wooden pallet.

Dagger had thrown a quick volley of throwing knives. Scandal twisted to the side, discarding the toothbrush shank while snatching one of the throwing knives out of the air. Only one of the knives had pierced her shoulder, while two others flew past behind Scandal and hit one of the female prisoners who had once been a member of the Kobra cult before her incarceration, killing her within moments.

"You're quick," Scandal said, not lowering her guard at all despite the knife sticking out of her shoulder.

"That's what she said!" said the amused knife-enthusiast vampire.

Scandal was anything but amused. "I doubt you will find it so funny when I stick one of these through your heart." She twirled the knife in her hand while gave a practice swing with the awkward stake-sized wooden fragment that may or may not be strong enough to pierce someone's chest.

"We will see," the vampire simply said before throwing yet another blade.

Vixen was working on taking down one vampire who was dressed as a cop. She managed to disarm him and grabbed ahold of his head, twisting his head 180 degrees, expecting him to turn to dust. Instead, the crooked cop by the name of Dudley Soames staggered away from the super-heroine with his head turned backwards.

"What the hell have you done to me!" screamed the vampire through his twisted larynx, as he stumbled away in confusion and pain, tripping over things as he went.

Vixen, found herself under attack yet again by a female guard, and wasn't able to finish off Soames.

Nearby, Cheetah was tearing through a Blackgate inmate vampire with a frenzy that almost had her sympathetic toward him. Unable to waste time to think, Vixen used the abilities of a grasshopper to come down on a vampire that was dressed as an office worker and had a young redhead pinned that it was about to feed upon.

"I believe the lady is saying no," Vixen said, using the strength of a Silverback gorilla to pull him away from Becky Sharpe, otherwise known as Hazard, the grand-daughter of the Gambler. Becky scrambled away, scurrying across the floor as quick as she could until she was back into the cluster of frightened women.

Jeannette was trying to get her hands on the fledgling vampires, but once they saw that her strength was far greater than theirs, they fled her, only to circle around her to get at the frightened women behind them, making Jeannette have to chase them down.

The Russian woman, Sickle, and Tigress, the daughter of the Sportsmaster I and Huntress I, had snuck back and procured some of Dagger's thrown knives. Sickle had obtained two while Tigress gained on when they were suddenly set upon by Captain Stingaree.

"Ah, my dears, you really shouldn't take what doesn't belong to you."

"This is a prison," spat Tigress. "We are all thieves and murderers here. We take what we want and what we need to survive!"

The pirate-motifed villain nodded his acknowledgment. "Very well then. Let us dance!" He pointed his sword toward the space between the two women. "You will find that my cutlass is as thirsty as I am. Even so, I shall endeavor to save most of your blood for myself," he said cockily.

Another woman nearby, shook her head in annoyance. "This is all pointless." Plastique raised her hand toward Captain Stingaree and pointed at him. A burst of energy flew from her hand and impacted with the pirate-styled villain, causing the vampire to explode in a shower of dust.

At the same time, Plastique went weak at the knees, and collapsed onto the floor.

"Screw this!" called out Jewelee, as she made her way past several vampires that had just been frozen in blocks of ice by Killer Frost. A majority of the other frightened women broke rank and ran after her toward the exit with the massive Orca following after them. Even some of the braver villainesses like Dr. Cyber and Queen Bee chose to run instead of facing the vampires.

Killer Frost made a small blockade in front of the Marine Marauder, who had scooped up Stingaree's fallen cutlass, and a woman who had worked for H.I.V.E.. "You two," she said. "Help Plastique. We may very well need her power again soon."

Plastique, otherwise known as Bette Sans Souci, was once a French-Canadian political terrorist before she had been genetically modified to be able to create explosives. "My powers-" she gasped. "When they blocked my powers, I could not build up a charge. I didn't think that when my powers were turned on again that I would have to build up my charge from nothing again."

"So you're on empty, eh?" Killer Frost sniffed with annoyance. "Well, you will still be more helpful than most of this lot once some of your power returns." She turned to address the Marine Marauder and the auburn-haired H.I.V.E. agent. "Keep her safe. She is probably more useful to us in surviving this in the long run than most everyone here."

"We'll help!" The long blond-haired woman called Brains pulled her friend to a stop.

Ms. Mesmer, a short-haired brunette, gapped at her lifelong friend for a moment. "Brains, this could be our only chance to get out of here alive!"

Brains gave a quick shake of her head. "Listen, Marcy, our odds of surviving are greater if we stick to the powerhouses."

Marcy was about to argue with her friend, and almost chose to abandon her. But she had a lifetime of trusting her friend's instincts who was almost always right. So it was with crossed fingers that Ms. Mesmer joined Brains in helping to move Plastique to safety.

Part of the far wall near the door that the female inmates had run out was suddenly smashed apart at Orca came flying through the air, and skidded across the floor until she crashed into one of the frozen vampires in an ice block, and shattered him so that he came apart like a melted dirt-filled snowman.

"What the hell?" exclaimed Killer Frost.

Before she could even speculate what had happened, the crowd of terrified, screaming women came racing back into the storage warehouse. Some stumbled in their panic, and the others trampled right over them. Some were unhurt, some injured, and a few dead or dying.

Stepping through the new hole in the wall was a tall man with chalk-white skin and hair with a ragged black suit. "Solomon Grundy smashed fish lady! Solomon Grundy will crush you all!" he growled. His arm swung out, enlarging the hole in the wall even as he stepped through it.

Following after Grundy was an older thin man that looked like he was a relative of the Crypt Keeper. Cornelius Stirk was an Arkham inmate who possesses some psychic abilities that could induce fear and hallucinations in those nearby. As for his quirks, he believed that he would die unless he regularly fed on human hearts. "Good boy, Grundy! They shan't get away from us! I can taste their heart's blood already!" he said gleefully.

Solomon Grundy glanced back at the vampire, but seeing someone else thanks to Stirk's latent psychic powers. Grundy wasn't sure exactly who that person was, but he trusted them enough to listen to what they said. "Solomon Grundy is not a boy. Solomon Grundy is Solomon Grundy."

"Hmm, yes, I suppose so," agreed Stirk, as if placating a child. "But that isn't getting me the hearts that I need. So off you go. Right over there. Make sure you bring them back with plenty of blood inside."

The swamp zombie stood there to ponder that for a moment while several figures began gathering behind him, none willing to rush past that formidable monster.

A vampire in a green jacket raced into the room by way of the doorway and pounced on one of the ladies that had fallen. "Ha! Ha!" laughed the vampire. "I told you all I knew where they had gone off to!" he proclaimed as he pinned his struggling prey. "The Getaway Genius always knows every escape route possible!" With that said, his face morphed and he plunged his fangs deep into the crying woman's jugular. A small tidal wave of water surged into the room from the doorway, running right over the Getaway Genius and his victim as if they were not even there.

New Wave was almost halfway across the room when a beam of light from the doorway struck her liquid form and froze her solid. Her face was frozen as a silently screaming ice sculpture. Deep inside her frozen body of water, the Getaway Genius' face was trapped in a similar silent scream of futility.

"Who the hell did that?" Killer Frost hadn't meet many other cold-based villains ironically, so she wasn't sure what to expect when a man in a metal and glass environmental suit walked in through the doorway. His icy gaze captured hers immediately.

Victor Fries licked his lips in anticipation. "Finally, someone I won't have to freeze before partaking of them." With that said, Mr. Freeze raised his large freeze gun and fired.

Killer Frost barely managed to raise a wall of ice in time to stop his opening attack. The results were lowering the temperature in the room quickly as well as rapidly growing an iceberg.

Solomon Grundy finally lumbered into the room, and the crowd of vampires behind him began to file in. One of the first was Leona Dorsey. She had been dying from an incurable disease, and sought treatment with a geneticist who had used the genetic code of a leopard to alter her physiology into that of a leopard woman. With a mostly animal personality, she reverted to a savage killer with all the abilities of a big cat called Panara by the press. Now, however, she had also been turned into a vampire and made straight for Cheetah, the two cat-women becoming entangled as they tried to kill each other.

Another vampire stepped inside the room and glanced around. The Cavalier called out to Dagger who had had to step away from Scandal in order to remove one of his knives from his arm.

"Dagger, where is Stingaree? He was hunting with you the last I saw."

"He got dusted!" Dagger shouted, as he ducked another of his knives thrown be scandal.

"Dusted?" Cavalier looked about wildly to see if his lover was actually fighting somewhere else. But he knew Dagger not to be the type to lie to him. "Who did it!"

"The redhead being carried by-" He stopped due to the knife sticking out of his throat. Coughing on the ichor in his body, he removed the knife while an Arkham inmate charged towards Scandal.

The Cavalier ignored what Dagger was going through, and instead went after the woman he had indicated. His mind clearly focused on getting a hold of the woman he would torture to madness before allowing her to die.

The alien Queen Bee was proving too much for the elderly looking vampire Aunt Minerva, and was dusted even as Cavalier stormed passed them.

Dr. Cyber and Night-Slayer were a spectacle of flashing knives and makeshift wooden stakes. It got so heated that Dr. Cyber lost her mask exposing her scarred face. Not that Cavalier had any mind to watch any of it.

The NKVDemon had his teeth in the Ten of Spades throat, all while fending off the pitiful attempts the Queen of Spades made to stop him by hitting him with her fists. The Cavalier didn't take the opportunity to claim the distracted Queen of Spades for his own.

Rosie the Riveter, leader of the Demolition Team, was using a lead pipe in one hand, and short 2x4 board in the other to batter the inept Calendar Man. Any other time, and Cavalier would have just watch and laughed to see such a sight.

The agile Tigress was using a knife to slash at the masked Fox. This would have been a fight that Cavalier would have watched and placed a bet with whoever was about, but not now.

The Monarch of Menace ducked behind the Cavalier briefly as Pistolera shot at him with a gun she had obtained from a fallen guard. Cavalier just kicked him away and let the pompish git to face the woman who was already bleeding from his neck bite.

Marine Marauder, Brains, Ms. Mesmer and the former H.I.V.E. agent had half carried, half dragged Plastique behind a large pallet of generic toilet paper. Marleen, the Marine Marauder, brought up the cutlass she had claimed. She had taken some lessons at sword wielding since she was a modern day pirate. Still, she had little hope at besting someone of the Cavalier's caliber. Especially since he has become a vampire. No, she would have to best him in another way, or die trying.

"You really think a little chit like you can challenge me with a blade?" Cavalier said, as he brought up his sword.

Marlene was concentrating hard. "No, but I can distract you."

Only then did the Cavalier notice something large behind him. He turned to lunge with his sword at the towering black and white form, but he was crushed flat by the battered looking Orca, leaving the Cavalier unconscious and obviously crippled.

"I told you not to use your mental hoodoo on me, Marlene," Orca said in a scolding tone.

Marlene gulped at the formidable woman. Marlene had been attempting to practice her abilities to control various types of marine life, and was surprised to discover that she could exert some control over Grace Balin, the Orca. Grace had not been pleased by that at all, and warned her thoroughly against trying to do it again. "I was in a tight spot."

"In case you haven't noticed it, we are all in a tight spot. Now I have to go help Jeannette with Grundy. Don't mess with me again."

The enlarged woman who resembled a walking orca stomped over to where the white-haired Jeannette was trying to strangle Solomon Grundy. There was a crash at the far end when Knockout, with the help of Vixen, had managed to throw the Gorilla Boss across the room.

Killer Frost had had enough. With the cold in the room building, she was losing more and more of her power to project cold. In an act of desperation, she used up much of her strength to spread the iceberg in the middle of the room so that it spread sideways across the room, hopefully cutting off anymore vampires.

Once the vampires noticed what she was attempting to do, there was a rush to get to her. The villainesses quickly rallied to keep her safe. Pistolera shot two vampires in the head, while Tiger Moth and Tigress took to guarding her from either side.

Before it closed off entirely, most of the vampires scampered back through, a few like Calendar Man getting caught in the freezing process, and became one with the barricade.

"That won't stop them long," Vixen said, taking in the cold air, and holding an arm protectively over her ribs.

Scandal stepped forward. "Where were you taking us when you came?"

Vixen even out her breathing. "To one of the lower levels. The male prisoners were also to be taken down there. We were planning to hold the vampires off there until we could think of a better way to counter them."

A smashing sound could be heard coming on the other side of the ice barricade, causing some of the ice to fracture off.

"They'll be through that soon," Killer Frost announced. "And if I don't get a heat source to drain, I won't be able to do much to stop them."

"You need heat?" Brains began to throw several rows of toilet paper over by Killer Frost. "Someone use some matches and get a fire started." Several people started to light up the growing pile of toilet paper. Some were gathering other items to use to burn.

"What's below here?"

Everyone looked to see Knockout pointing toward the floor.

Vixen frowned. "Medical facilities, I think. Or a hallway."

Knockout nodded. "So if I smash a hole through here, there won't be explosions or lethal gas."

Vixen hesitated. "Not that I know of."

"Sounds good to me." Using only her fists, Knockout smashed her way through the concrete floor. Once the floor was big enough, she looked through. "Yep, medical facilities." She then hurried to make the hole larger, and was helped by Jeannette and Orca.

Brains and Ms. Mesmer helped to bring Plastique over. "We'll need at least one stretcher for Plastique, Brains said allowed, hoping that someone would volunteer to have it ready for them when they brought her down.

"I'll get it," responded the Marine Marauder.

The others quickly fell in line since the banging on the ice shield was getting louder. None of them wanted to be there when that wall came down.

 **GLOSSARY**

 **Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane –** A prison in Gotham City where many of Batman's enemies are imprisoned for treatment.

 **Aunt Minerva –** She's a deadly criminal mastermind who looks like a sweet old lady.

 **Belle Reve** – A prison in Louisiana specially designed to incarcerate metahumans which also services as the headquarters of the Suicide Squad.

 **Blackgate Penitentiary –** A Gotham prison that houses many of the harshest criminals and Batman's villains.

 **Brains –** A statuesque blonde woman who was the mastermind of the criminal organization the Gang.

 **Cain, Gib** – A werewolf hunter that Buffy had once run out of Sunnydale when he tried to kill Oz.

 **Calendar Man / Day, Julian** – He is fascinated by holidays and significant dates and calendars. Though he has often worn costumes to correlate with date during particular crimes, his main costume is red and white with a cape made of calendars. He is a successful inventor, capable of designing the machinery needed to deploy his various schemes.

 **Captain Stingaree / Courtney, Karl** – A modern-day pirate obsessed with pirates.

 **Carnivora –** She was part of an extraterrestrial invasion fleet whose spacecraft was destroyed by an Asteroid field. She has a sadistic, savage personality, and likes to torture her food before consuming.

 **Catman / Blake, Thomas –** A renowned hunter from a wealthy family, Blake decided to try his hand as a costumed villain as a means of discovering new thrills. After being continually defeated by Batman, his self-esteem began to falter making him more and more a bumbling buffoon. Later he went and lived with a lion pride in the wild to rediscover himself. Soon he was once more one of the world's premier hunters and trackers.

 **Cavalier / Drake, Mortimer –** The Cavalier is a swashbuckling super-villain and enemy to Batman in Gotham City, having also resided in Arkham Asylum. Despite his criminal tendencies, he purports to be a man of gallantry and honor.

 **Cheetah / Minerva, Barbara –** She obtained the power of the Cheetah. She had superhuman strength, agility, and speed.

 **Church of Blood –** A cult that has been around for seven centuries, which is controlled by Brother Blood.

 **Dagger / Rennington, David –** He embarked into crime in order to save his blade making business, Rennington Steel. He's an expert knife-thrower who wears several knives about his person.

 **Doctor Cyber –** A brilliant vengeful scientist whose beauty was destroyed, she now wears a power suit that gives her superhuman attributes and employs many powerful high tech weaponry. She is considered one of Wonder Woman's deadliest foes.

 **Doctor Poison II –** An unnamed grandchild of the original Doctor Poison. She is an expert in the use of poisons, toxins and plagues. Having used herself as a subject for biochemical experiments, she's developed the ability to secrete various toxins and chemicals.

 **Film Freak II / Edison –** A psychotic obsessed with films, he modeled his murders and other crimes based off of movies he had seen.

 **Fox / Kawford, Warren –** A part of the team called The Terrible Trio, Warren is a famous inventor, but grew bored once he became rich. Thrill-seeking, he and his friends became criminals, and wore business suits with the masks of animals.

 **Getaway Genius / Reynolds, Roy –** A slick Gotham criminal, whose modus operandi is making a slick getaway.

 **Gorilla Boss / Dyke, George** – George was a mobster who was executed in a gas chamber at Gotham City Prison. However, his brain is removed from his body by his henchman under his orders. George's brain ends up transplanted into the body of a towering gorilla by a disgraced surgeon. The Gorilla Boss soon established himself during a crime spree in Gotham, bringing him conflict with Batman.

 **H.I.V.E. (the** **H** **ierarchy of** **I** **nternational** **V** **engeance and** **E** **xtermination) –** A group of criminal scientists dedicated to striking out against their enemies. Their foot soldiers were promised immortality for their allegiance.

 **Hazard / Sharpe, Rebecca –** The granddaughter of the villain, the Gambler. She was horrified after her grandfather lost his fortune gambling and killed himself. To avenge him, she became a supervillain herself. She has psionic powers that she uses in conjunction with special die to influence probability as she wishes.

 **Hyena I / Day, Summer** – She was serving in the Peace Corps in Africa when a wounded man she was treating suddenly turned into a were-creature and bit her. Later, when she returned to America, she began to turn into a were-hyena under the full moon. Later she would learn that she would turn into the Hyena whenever experiencing emotional stress.

 **Intergang –** An organized crime syndicate. They have managed to stay one step ahead of most Earth-based crime fighters by using technology from Apokolips.

 **Jeannette –** An immortal banshee, having lived without aging for centuries and endured great physical trauma without any long-term harm. She has also shown to be a lot stronger and faster than a human being. Transforming into her banshee form, the scream she released causes those who hear it to experience all the horrors of her traumatic death.

 **Jewelee –** A puppeteer along with her husband Punch, they discovered a strange, antique chest that floated onto the beach. Inside, were several alien devices: flying boots, sting string, hypno gems, and other items. They used the alien technology to take on a life of crime.

 **Killer Frost II / Lincoln, Louise –** A friend of the original Killer Frost, who assumed the murderous identity following the original's death in order to avenge her death against Firestorm. She is able to absorb heat and transmute it to extreme cold temperatures, which manifests in the generation of ice structures of various sizes and freezing gusts of wind. She can use this power to create ice surfaces upon which she may slide, and also to create weaponry or defensive structures. She can also reduce the temperature of a person's body until they freeze to death. She is also an intelligent and skilled scientist.

 **Knockout –** Knockout was a former Female Fury from Apokolips. As such she possesses the strength and ferocity of those hazed through the fires of her world.

 **Mad Hatter / Tetch, Jervis –** an enemy of Batman who uses mind-controlling hats. He is a delusional mental patient in Arkham Asylum, obsessed with Lewis Carroll's novel _Alice in Wonderland_ and naming himself after one of the main characters.

 **Marine Marauder II / Simmonds, Marlene –** Dr. Simmonds is a marine biologist who used her knowledge to go into piracy on the high seas. She is able to telepathically control many types of marine life. Her costume gave her the ability to breathe underwater with a facemask, as well as giving her increased strength and protecting her from the pressures of the ocean. Her suit also lets her fly and shoot beams of energy from her goggles.

 **Mister Freeze / Fries, Victor** \- A super-villain enemy of Batman who fights using cold-themed weapons. Formerly a scientist working in cryogenics, he had dedicated his life to finding a cure for his wife Nora Fries' terminal illness. Following a horrible lab accident, he became dependent on sub-zero temperatures to survive and began using his experimental inventions to commit crimes in efforts to fund his research. This also requires an exo-skeleton that keeps him constantly freezing. Losing touch with humanity over time, he eventually turns into a colder and more sadistic psychopath.

 **Monarch of Menace –** He is a royal-themed crook who has been able to pull off heists and able to keep Batman at bay with his various gadgets.

 **Ms. Mesmer –** A member of the Gang who gained hypnotic abilities.

 **New Wave / Jones, Becky –** A sociopathic criminal with the ability to control water and turn into water. She leads a mercenary group called the Masters of Disaster who specialize in causing natural disasters.

 **NKVDemon –** NKVDemon is less of a bruiser in combat, using skill and wits rather than overwhelming physical size to take on his opponents. Years of training under the KGBeast have left NKVDemon extremely resistant to physical pain. NKVDemon is also an exceptional hand-to-hand combatant like his mentor, KGBeast, and is also a weapons and explosives expert and a master of disguises, both of which contribute greatly to his skill as an assassin.

 **Orca / Balin, Grace –** A marine biologist who used orca spinal cord tissue to turn herself into a human / whale hybrid.

 **Panara / Dorsey, Leona –** She used an experimental genetic treatment for her incurable disease, but was mutated into a half-leopard, with her mind turning mostly beastial.

 **Pistolera / Gunbunny –** Once she was the partner of the assassin Gunhawk. She later changed her name and adopted a Western-themed cowgirl outfit,

 **Plastique** **/ Souci, Bette Sans** \- An explosive super-villain, originally seen as an enemy to **Firestorm**. Beginning her career as a French-Canadian terrorist, she eventually reformed and became a mercenary.

 **Queen Bee / Zazzala –** The queen of the planet Korll, she created an army of bee-men to loot worlds as she sought a way to immortality.

 **Queen of Spades / Taylor, Mona –** A member of the second version of Royal Flush Gang. Taylor is an alcoholic. She can create realistic illusions and had a wrist shooter that fired spade shaped projectiles.

 **Rosie the Riveter –** Rosie leads a team of mercenaries called the Demolition Team. She used a modified gun that fires red hot rivets as her weapon.

 **Scandal / Savage, Scandal –** The daughter of the immortal Vandal Savage, Scandal refuses to live under her father's shadow. She's a skilled fighter, and wields a pair of gauntlets that carry her Lamentation Blades that seem able to slice through most materials. She also has inherited her father's regenerative abilities, and is able to heal soon without injury.

 **Shimmer / Flinders, Selinda –** She and her brother, Mammoth, are Australian, and discovered their powers as children. They soon took to a life of crime, later became a founding member of the Fearsome Five. She can transmute things that are a few feet from her into other things for up to three minutes before they turn back.

 **Sickle / Ulyanov, Natasha –** She is a Soviet hero and a member of the People's Heroes, and wields a powerful sickle. She is also married to one of his teammates, Hammer.

 **Stirk, Cornelius –** A delusional serial killer that feeds on people's hearts to survive and has the psychic ability to make people see him as someone else.

 **Ten of Spades / Wayland, Wanda –** A member of the second version of the Royal Flush Gang. She uses an energy blaster in her gloves and carried explosive playing cards.

 **Tiger Moth –** Tiger Moth's costume has technology that disorients foes that make them unable to hit her directly.

 **Tigress II / Crock, Artemis –** Artemis Crock is the daughter of Paula Brooks - The First Tigress - and Lawrence Crock a.k.a Sportsmaster. She was taught her skills by both of her parents so she could continue their legacy. Tigress' strength, agility, speed, and stamina are within peak human levels. She has exceptional hunting skills and has an enhanced sense of smell that allows her to track individuals. Tigress is highly proficient in several hand-to-hand combat techniques. Her arsenal includes a compact crossbow and a quiver of arrows, knives, nets, and bolas.

 **Torque / Soames, Dudley –** Dudley was a corrupt police detective working in Bludhaven.

 _For my story, I had Dudley Soames checking out a lead on a prisoner at Blackgate Penitentiary when the black dome came down and the vampires invaded. I thought it amusing to have Vixen twist his head 180 degrees just like Blockbuster did in the comics._

 **Tweedledee / Tweed, Deever & Tweedledum / Tweed, Dumfree – **Lookalike cousins, they are both lazy and overweight, but have a ruthless and cunning strategic minds that they put to use in crimes. They chose the names Tweedledee and Tweedledum aliases due to their resemblance to the characters in Alice in Wonderland. They had worked on several projects with the Mad Hatter, but then during one of their incarcerations at Arkham, one of the doctors performed an experimental lobotomy on both of them, which reduced their mental faculties greatly, though the Mad Hatter always tried to find a place for him in his gang.

 **Vixen / McCabe, Mari Jiwe –** She can channel the abilities of virtually any creature in the animal kingdom through a magic totem. She started as a solo hero, but later joined the JLA, and later the Suicide Squad.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

 **by Ordinaryguy2**

 **HOLDING AREA**

 **BELLE REVE PENITENTIARY, LOUISIANA**

Count Werner Zytle, better known to the world as Count Vertigo, swiped a card through the card reader and entered the seven-digit key code while making sure those behind him could not see.

"What the hell is this bloody place?" came yet another complaint from the annoying Australian he'd been lumped with. "And how is it that you have the code to get in there? I've been in this stupid gig far longer than you, mate, and I've never even been in this section of this hell hole."

Count Vertigo despised his uncouth teammate. Ever mission they go out on in the Suicide Squad, Vertigo wishes that it was George Harkness, a.k.a. Captain ' _Bloody_ ' Boomerang, that struck out. Ironically, Werner Zytle himself was often suicidal, but even so, a dead Boomerang would be preferable than his own demise.

"Clearly I know more of Belle Reve because Waller trusts me more than she does you," he responded with an aristocratic sniff of disdain. "There is also another reason that you were never brought to this section."

The doors swung open revealing three guards with automatic weapons aimed at them.

There was a shouted command from someone at the far end of the large wing to which the guards stood down and let Count Vertigo, Captain Boomerang, and bringing up the rear, Phobia of the Brotherhood of Evil.

"Okay," Captain Boomerang spoke, clearly annoyed. "I'll bite. Why do you know this place?"

"This is where Waller brings potential inductees to be tested before deciding if she can use them."

"Never brought me through here," groused Harkness.

"That's because all of the prisoners housed in here are super-powered." Werner explained. "Waller takes them out of general population and brings them here so she can test to see what they are truly capable. Also to make sure she can control them."

"Is this what you had planned for my teammates and I?" spoke Phobia for the first time since being separated from the other members of the Brotherhood of Evil.

Werner Zytle shrugged. "I have no idea what Amanda Waller's plans were regarding the Brotherhood of Evil. We were just sent to apprehend you. In fact, I have no idea who they are even currently holding inside here. I just know of this place as this is where I first met Waller when being inducted into Task Force X."

George ' _Digger_ ' Harkness snorted. "Just call it the Suicide Squad. Everyone else does."

"Damn it, Werner!" groused a bearded, brown-haired man with a good start on a pot-belly. "I don't like the idea of releasing all these walking disasters waiting to happen!"

"Who's the dingo in a suit?" snarked Harkness.

Werner looked back at Harkness with annoyance. "This is John Economos; he's the warden of Belle Reve."

Disgust was immediate upon Digger's face. "The Wall's fall guy for when one of our missions hits the fan in a big way." Then chuckled. "Think I can ask him about changing the menu?"

Count Vertigo gave Captain Boomerang no comment, nor did Phobia, as they instead continued walking into the large room.

On either side, and directly in front of them were a total of twelve cells, all of which had bars and glass shielding.

John looked up from a handful of files that he'd been reading once they neared him. "Werner, I'm glad Amanda sent you. But this has so many ways of going bad."

Werner couldn't disagree with the man. "Waller wouldn't be trying it if she thought it wasn't necessary."

Economos' attention was now behind the count. "Why the hell are they here?"

Count Vertigo looked over his shoulder at Captain Boomerang and Phobia. "Waller doesn't want anyone to be traveling alone while vampires are attacking the place. Boomerang is more or less vetted at this point; as for my distantly related cousin, Angela Hawkins, or as you know her – Phobia; she bears an explosive collar to enforce her compliance."

Harkness snickered to himself as he mumbled something about aristocratic inbreeders.

Economos ignored the Australian, and turned his attention back to those locked in their cells. "Now as I was telling you all, these things do not want to make nice with you. They are literally coming for your blood. And I can't let them turn you into more vampires. The explosive nano-bombs in your bodies are active. Fail to comply with my request, and there won't be enough of you to recognize. So think on that while we get ready to release you."

"So who's in this lot," Boomerang inquired.

Economos gave an annoyed glare at Digger, but he had been about to inform Werner of that information, so he began with the explanations.

"You would probably recognize Dufus P. Ratchet, who you and the Flash's Rogues turned into the powerhouse called Big Sir." A towering, bulky, bald man stood looking out of his cell while picking his nose.

That brought a cackle from Harkness. "I see him now. Yeah, a real pea-brain me and the Rogues drug up from a mental hospital. We were able to outfit 'im in some powerful gear we got from a bloke calling himself the Monitor. Big Sir did give the Flash a run for his money though. Too bad he failed."

Economos shook his head and moved on. "Next we have Jonathan Drew. He literally calls himself Codename: Assassin. He took part in an Extrasensory Perception studies where an accident somehow allowed him to develop the powers of telepathy and telekinesis. Unfortunately, this, compiled with the murder of his sister, made him mentally unstable. He became a vigilante who hunted down murderers and other perceived threats to society." The muscular man with dark hair glared out of his cell with murderous intent.

"Great, another bloody psychopath," groused Digger. "Just what the team needs."

"Here we have Jeremy Tell, a.k.a. Double Down," introduced Economos. "As you can probably tell from his alias, he's a gambler and con man. From what has been told to us, once when Tell lost a card game, he attacked and killed his opponent. Problem was, the man had been in possession of a cursed deck of cards which cleaved to Tell's body, burning away much of his skin. As you can see, the cards themselves now make up the top layer of his skin. Now that he's bonded to them, Tell can use the cards to fly about and cut things to ribbons."

"Well," commented Harkness. "Nobody's gonna say he ain't playing with a full deck, eh, right?" He laughed at his own joke, while the rest ignored him.

"Next is Chato Santana." A strong man of Hispanic descent with several tattoos looked up briefly at hearing his name. "According to our sources, he encountered a comatose man named Lazarus Lane at a hospital. Lane transferred some of his powers of a minor wrath of vengeance. El Diablo, as Santana was calling himself, used his powers to create fire to get revenge on some gang members. Later he learned that there was an innocent woman and child who had died in the blaze. Evidently the guilt got to him, and he turned himself in. He's been sentenced to death row, but Waller has other plans for him."

"The anguish of guilt can be bitter," Phobia declared. "And rare in such a man as this."

Economos shifted uneasily. "Yes, this next candidate has no such qualms about killing." He pointed to another stocky man. "Lester Buchinsky, better known as the Electrocutioner, though he is not the first to use that name or costume. Originally he targeted criminals, but later became a mercenary and took to crime himself. Unlike his predecessor, Buchinsky didn't limit himself by having his machinery in his costume. Somehow, he got part of his electro-generating machinery into his body, though his costume allows him to throw bolts of electricity, but without it he has to touch someone to kill them."

Digger smirked. "A hands-on type a guy, eh? I prefer distance weapons meself. Awk! What the bloomin' hell is that?"

Inside the large cell that almost seemed empty, was a diminutive man about five inches tall who was openly leering at Phobia.

Economos chuckled. "That's just Mouse Man. We've never been able to determine his real name. Though it's been determined that his sized was changed by some kind of chemical. It's said that he has some control over mice and other vermin as well."

Harkness shook the shiver out of his spine, kicking himself for having jumped. "What the bloomin' hell in a guy like that supposed to do? Have we become a Mickey Mouse operation? We'd be a laughing stock to have this guy on the team."

Werner sniffed. "The squad has survived having you on the team. I think the reputation of the Suicide Squad would be just fine. Mouse Man has faced Wonder Woman on several occasions, and I believe fought Batman at least once."

"Bah, practically everyone in a costume has faces Bats at least once," objected Captain Boomerang. "I just don't get why a bloke would shrink himself down to such a small size."

"He gets to enjoy things in greater amounts," Phobia said as she slowly walked up to the glass wall that was keeping Mouse Man in his cell.

"You know it, baby," the tiny man said in a lecherous voice.

Phobia wasn't impressed. "He has a thing for dominating women, and is focused on Wonder Woman as he sees her as the ultimate woman."

"You're not so bad yourself, toots," grinned the tiny man.

"He also suffers from a fear of rejection, and so makes himself unattainable."

"Say what now? Hey, you don't know what you are talking about, bitch! I am very attainable!"

"I didn't say I found you unattainable." She gave him a wink, and walked away. Mouse Man stared after her in wonder, trying to understand what just happened.

"Anyhoo," Economos began, as he tried to ignore what he had just heard. "Next we have Duncan Pramble. He'd been a research assistant to an archaeologist when they discover an ancient elixir called ' _Liquid Light_ '. Nearby hieroglyphics told that whoever partook of the elixir would be granted extra lives, and with each life, a new power. Naturally Pramble stole it, drank it, and began calling himself Multi-Man. This put him against the Challengers of the Unknown, and the rest is history."

At first glance the man, Duncan Pramble seemed like an ordinary bald man with a thin mustache, except for the fact that Pramble's bald head had an enlarged cranium and his ears were slightly enlarged as well as pointed at the tips.

"Basically, if Multi-Man dies, he is nearly instantly resurrected and has a new super power that seems to be selected at random. Whatever else that elixir did to him, it also made him a scientific genius. Of course, there was a down side. The deaths have taken a toll on him, giving him severe emotional distress and depression."

"What is his power currently?"

"He's able to elongate his limbs. He can't bend them like Plastic Man or the Elongated Man, but they can extend at least fifteen feet."

"Why not just keep killing him until he comes up with a decent super power," Captain Boomerang blurted out.

Economos just shook his head. "The Human Rights activists would be all over us even if they didn't know we exist. Trust me, Waller considered the option."

Phobia stared into the cell at the depressed man, before turning away in disgust.

"And here we have our newest addition: Stalnoivolk. The records I have say that Stalin wanted a super-being to fight for him during WWII. Stalnoivolk, or the ' _Steel Wolf_ ', was the result. He's super-strong and can literally leap over buildings, and pretty much invulnerable on the outside. He disappeared from our radar for several decades, but he came back to face Firestorm. He's also had a run-in with the Suicide Squad in Cuba."

"Strewth! I heard about that!" Captain Boomerang edged back from the towering Russian on the other side of the glass. "Rick Flag was the only one to come back from that mission!"

Economos decided to move on to the next cell. "Here we have a historical figure that we only know about from legends." A large Native American sat on a bunk in his cell, one hand out trying to grab something that wasn't there. "He's hundreds of years old even though he only looks like he might be thirty. He's Iroquois, and seems to have received powers from a radioactive meteorite fragment. He's super-strong, super-fast, invulnerable and can fly."

"What is he doing?" Count Vertigo asked as he watched the Iroquois' curious actions.

John shook his head sadly. "We believe it is Alzheimer's, or something like it. Basically, most of his memories have deteriorated, leaving him confused and disoriented."

"A bloke that powerful, and a mental basket case to boot?" Harkness shook his head. "What the hell is Waller thinking?"

"Can it, Harkness," Economos snapped. "This is where Waller evaluates _potential_ Task Force X inductees. Most are never accepted. Some she even helps, like those with medical issues. Don't think you understand Waller. There is more to the woman than meets the eye."

"He speaks the truth." With his head held high, Count Vertigo turned to them. "I, myself, suffer from manic depression. Through Waller's contacts, I have managed to get it mostly under control."

"What methods are used?" Phobia asked, curious about this distant relative. Though her powers let her manipulate the fears of others, she, too, was prone to manic states, an unfortunate family trait.

"You two can discuss it later," proclaimed John. "This next guy used to be a marine." He indicated the black man that was heavily covered in tattoos. "His name is Mark Richards. He went missing when his helicopter exploded; he was presumed dead. Several years later, he shows up in Gotham City, as a hit man with a trick: his tattoos come alive and do his bidding. He's been recorded as saying that the tattoos came from the sins of the people he killed. He believed that by taking the sins onto himself, he was redeeming the souls of those he'd killed. How it all works? We have no clue. It's metaphysics or magic or religion mumbo-jumbo or just plain nuts. What matters is his tattoos come alive and do his bidding."

"Does he have any dancing naked birds?" Digger asked. "'cause that kind of magic I can get in to."

"Stop talking, you lecherous pig," instructed Phobia. "Or I will deliver such fear upon you that you will most likely never be sane again."

Harkness already had one of his trademark boomerangs in hand. "Try it, you aristocratic goth bike, and I'll take your head clean off!"

Seeing that Werner was amused and not going to step in, John Economos shouted. "Hey, you two idiots! Do you remember the vampires invading the prison on some mission to suck out all of our blood so that we become vampires and are put into their army in their plan to take over the world? Well, you are going to need each other whether you like it or not, so get over yourselves! We have work to do!"

Digger snorted in annoyance, but he did harness his weapon. Phobia just rolled her eyes and turned back to the caged prisoners.

Grumbling to himself, and shooting an annoyed glance at Count Vertigo, Economos returned to the folders in his hand.

"Cliff Carmichael: an intellectual bully with self-esteem issues. His conscience caused him to have a mental breakdown after he had accidently caused his cousin to become paralyzed. He went into an institution where some scientists decided to experiment of him by interfacing the deceased Thinker's ' _Thinking Cap_ ' directly into Cliff's brain. The Thinking Cap gave Cliff the ability to mind control others as well as some telekinesis and interaction with computers. He used his new meta-abilities to escape and has been making a name for himself as the second Thinker."

From his cell, Cliff Carmichael had a cat-that-ate-the-canary grin. They past him by instead of acknowledging him, which pissed him off some.

"Here is our last potential inductee candidate."

"Why are you calling them potential inductees?" blurted out Harkness. "If we are taking 'em with us, that means they are in the Squad."

John cleared his throat and gave Harkness a glare. "As I was saying, this is Theresa Zimmer. She used to be a member of the Church of Blood. They experimented on her to give her distorted illusion casting powers, and somehow ended up distorting her face and mind as well."

The black haired, white female's face was twisted in a manner that made her resemble the love child of Salvador Dali. Her left eye was an inch higher than it was supposed to be as well as tilted at a 45-degree angle. Her nose was turned at a 45-degree angle in the other direction. Her mouth was two inched to the left of where it was supposed to be as well as tilted up toward her ear.

"There's not enough alcohol in the world to make her pretty," mumbled a surprised Captain Boomerang. "I've seen birds come out of a flamin' helicopter crash that looked ten times better than her."

"Boomerang, shut up," snapped Phobia.

"Why I don't just quit this job, I'll never know," growled Economos.

"Because you have to come up with the alimony for your ex-wives," said an amused Count Vertigo.

John chuckled at that. "Too true. Kids are almost as expensive, but I don't begrudge them the money."

"You begrudge your ex-wives?" asked Phobia.

"Nah, mostly myself. As much as I want to be married, my work dedication is a direct conflict of interest to my family."

"Then stop getting married."

"But I want to be married. It gives my life meaning to have someone in my life to share it with."

"Then get another job," she simply stated, annoyed.

"No one else will pay me near to what I make here. And I have alimony and child support to provide."

John waved to one of the guards, and the doors to the cells opened releasing the prisoners.

The prisoners were cautious as they ambled out, except for Super-Chief who just sat where he was, trying to work on something that no one else can see.

"Before you even think about it, your powers are still turned off, including magical ones such as Double Down has. And if you do try to fight your way out of here, you should all remember that you have nano-bombs implanted in several places in your body. Stalnoivolk thought Waller was bluffing about the nano-bombs, but she had been prepared for him believing that she was bluffing, and had made sure she had a spare nano-bomb placed in a non-lethal place. Stalnoivolk, hold out your hand."

The towering old man glowered, but raised his left hand to show that one of his fingers had been blown off.

Digger pulled at his scarf as he swallowed. "That's a new one on the Wall."

"So," began the Electrocutioner, "we're supposed to go out into the prison and fight vampires?"

"Not quite." Count Vertigo stepped into the air so that he was two feet above the ground. "The Bronze Tiger said that there is a large tunnel that somehow connect the black domes. The tunnel should lead to Blackgate Penitentiary and then to Arkham. I was given orders to take this group and go down the tunnels to see what we can learn. Perhaps stop this advancing vampiric army at it's source."

"Bloody hell!" "*%&$" "This is messed up!" "But aren't vampires really scary?" "Can't you just launch a missile or something down the tunnel?" "That's suicide!" "!"

"Silence!" John pulled out his gun. "I already told you I'm not allowed to let any of you to stay and become vampires. You either go on this mission or I put a hole in your head. I'm not big on killing people. I admit that freely. But I sure as hell don't want to see the vampire version of you lot. So what's it going to be?"

"What about him?" Mouse Man pointed to the cell where Super-Chief sat oblivious to what they were talking about.

John cursed. "Looks like he'll be getting a bullet."

"Perhaps that won't be necessary." Cliff Carmichael walked over to the door of Super-Chief's cell. "Once you let me use my thinking cap again, I may be able to control him."

John nodded, secretly relieved not to have to shoot anyone. He'd only shot two people before, and that had been when some gang members had broken into his house. One had been twenty-three with a list of felonies. The kid who had died had been sixteen, and was on probation for statutory rape, assault & battery of an elderly woman, grand theft auto, and a bunch of stupid teenager stuff. John had felt the guilt of it for a week, and had not been able to go back to work until receiving some counseling sessions with a next door neighbor who was a pastor.

"Have you even tried to control someone with Alzheimer's before?"

Cliff was about to make a snappy comeback, but paused. "No," he admitted. "There may be some difficulty with his brain is deteriorating. I may have to make some new response connections in his brain. If that is even possible." He scratching at the wispy beard growth he had. "I'd like to try it. It would be an interesting challenge. Plus, he's got some serious potential if what you said about him is accurate."

There was a scuffle at the entryway of the holding area.

"The bloody guards didn't close the door!" Captain Boomerang threw one of his razor sharp weapons into the air so that the arc would take it to the fight the guards at the entrance were having.

Several vampires were pushing their way inside. One vampire, held a ventriloquist dummy in one hand, and a Thompson submachine gun in the other. The tommy gun thundered into the room as it not only shot Boomerang's Boomerang out of the air, but also nicked El Diablo in the arm and took out one of the guards. Everyone else ducked for cover.

Once the sounds of bullets ceased, more of the vampires started to come inside.

"Well, well, well. Looks like we hit the jackpot for potential fledglings." Tobias Whale was a large man of considerable bulk, and much of that bulk tended to be pure muscle. He was a black albino who rose his way up in the rackets in the Metropolis of The 100 crime organization. He specialized in drug dealing, but was diversified into many levels of crime. When he was being pushed out of Metropolis by Intergang, Whale moved to Gotham to try his luck there.

Coiling at Whale's feet was the serpentine assassin/crook, Copperhead. "They look ssso tasssty."

"My sentiments _egg_ -zactly," chortled the self-proclaimed ' _world's smartest criminal'_. Edgar Heed, otherwise known as Egghead, bore a shaved head that made him look somewhat like an egg. And the very fact that he based all his crimes with an egg-motif was the reason he'd been incarcerated at Arkham Asylum.

"Can't we just kill them?" said the man wearing a vulture headpiece. "Or is it your plan to talk them to death?"

"Savor the moment, Vulture." The badly dressed Condiment King stood there looking oddly confident. In his back was two tanks, while his utility belt consisted of various condiments that connected by tubes to his large condiment gun with four nozzles. "The fear of the anticipated horror that awaits them adds zest to their blood."

"That's called adrenalin, you moron," growled Captain Calamity. "And I think that they are more than ready now."

John Economos had not been idle as he took refuge in Big Sir's cell. Using his remote device, he punched in code after code until finally he got to what he was looking for. "There! Everyone, your powers are activated again! Now get rid of those vampires!"

Copperhead slithered into the room with surprising speed.

Mark Richards, the Tattooed Man, stepped forward. "Got this." One of his tattoos from his left leg pulled away from him and grew in size to form a six-foot long mongoose. Almost instantly, the magical mongoose and the vampire Copperhead were locked in a deadly battle.

Pushing past Tobias Whale, Otis Flannigan – known to others as the Ratcatcher – hurried in. "My little ones will soften them up so we can feast!" With a wave of his hand, hundreds of rats scurried into the room, toward the prisoners and guards.

"I've got the vermin!" Double Down's cards slashed through the air, slicing rats in half.

"You need help." El Diablo stretched out his hands and sent out flames to engulf the oncoming horde of rodents.

"Watch my cards, you pyromaniac!" Double Down pushed his magical flying cards off to the left leaving El Diablo to take the right.

Mouse Man stood on a nearby chair. "I'll see if I can take control of the rats from that guy. Holding his hands to his head he began to shout ' _Sqee_ ' over and over again.

Stalnoivolk hurried forward, ignoring the rats in his attempt to take out some of his aggression on the vampires.

"Not so fast, bland villain! You now face the Condiment King!"

Stalnoivolk glared down at the skinny man in the ridiculous costume. "This is joke?"

"I'm going to spice you up!" He raised his weapon and fired even as he dodged Stalnoivolk's grasping hands. "Try some of my super-hot sauce in your eyes and see how you like it!"

Stalnoivolk, who had been invulnerable for most of his life, was reduced to falling on the floor as he tried to wipe his eye's clear while kicking and lashing blindly. On sheer luck, the Steel Wolf had managed to get a kick in that caught the dancing Condiment King in the chest, sending him flying into the wall, where he collapsed with ketchup pouring out over him.

The Thinker had been trying his luck at controlling Super-Chief. "Damn it! I need more time!" He tried to use his mind control on the vampires but was surprised to find them immune to his abilities. Glancing around, he spotted John Economos trying to talk Big Sir into going out to take on the vampires. The Thinker had no problem in taking over the mind of someone who only had the intellect of a young child.

With the Thinker at the helm, Big Sir surged out of the cell and charged out into the growing battle. Dufus P. Ratchet had been a large, muscular man before the Rogues had him outfitted in high-tech armor. Ratchet had been augmented some so that he had super-strength, though his armor made him even stronger.

The first fledgling vampire to rush the human tank was smashed to the floor as if he were a gnat. Two others leapt at him, and the Thinker-controlled Big Sir shook them around like rag dolls. As Cliff was reveling in his use of Big Sir's body, he was caught off guard when Tobias Whale tackled him, nearly crashing into Phobia who was trying to use her powers to induce fear in the vampires bringing up images that were as hard for her as it was for her victims.

"Someone is tapping into my abilities!" Phobia tried to determine who could be messing with her powers when she felt the source of her drain.

Captain Calamity, sometimes known as Mr. ESPer, gave her a vampiric grin from on the other side of the fight between Big Sir and Tobias Whale. "My device lets me absorb mental powers. Yours is more difficult, but I will have it for my own." He adjusted his device. "In fact, yours isn't the only power I can take."

Aiming the device at Big Sir, he began adjusting dials to find the right frequency.

"Damn it!" growled the Thinker. "They have someone with mental powers of some kind. I'm trying to block him but it's like he's trying to feed off my brain."

Without the Thinker controlling him, Big Sir was just starting to realize that he was somehow fighting hand to hand with a vampire. To say that he was freaking out was putting it mildly. He began hitting, kicking and screaming like a child. The albino vampire was quick to take advantage of that situation.

John Economis took aim with his gun, and fired it twice, hitting Captain Calamity twice in the head. While the shots were not deadly to the vampire, they were painful and could hinder them.

Count Vertigo, having taken to the air, pulled out a long blade that he kept on hand and dove at the distracted Captain Calamity stabbing him the neck and through his spinal column. With a savage twist of the blade, Captain Calamity turned to dust.

Twister was working her illusion powers on Egghead. Egghead was unfortunately proving to overcome most of what she could do.

"Come now, my dear." Egghead grinned with his vampire face on and licked his jagged teeth. "It will be so much better if you simply submit. The rewards for doing so are _egg_ -cellent, while the punishment…, well, let's just say you wouldn't like that as much."

"Never!" growled Twister. "I've already had Brother Blood mess with my head! I won't let anyone else!"

Egghead was overcome with a sudden case of vertigo and fell to the ground. Before he could right himself, Count Vertigo landed on top of him and plunged his knife straight down into Egghead's throat.

Before Count Vertigo could deliver the death blow, Egghead managed to get his foot between them, and kicked the European royal away.

Twister, however was not to be denied. She grappled with the vampire, one hand on the knife, trying to do as much damage as she could.

Egghead was far stronger than her. He forced her away and pulled the knife from out of his throat. "You bitch!" he rasped. "I'm going to-"

Before he could complete his threat, a large hand grabbed his head from behind. Though he was for the most part blind, Stalnoivolk could still hear and was able to grab ahold of the bald vampire. The Russian lifted the egg-themed villain into the air, then slammed his head onto the floor, cracking his head open like an egg. A second later, Egghead was vampire ash.

At the guards' desk, the Electrocutioner had been charging up his internal cybernetic battery from an outlet. It was slow going, but if he was going to be of any use, he needed to be charged up. A vampire leapt at him, and he was able to shock him. Using a wooden pencil, he jammed it through the Blackgate inmate's heart. The vampire turned to dust. "Well, at least I know that the stake through the heart trick works." He continued to recharge even as he readied himself for the next vampire attacker.

Jonathan Drew, the vigilante/assassin who called himself Codename: Assassin, had gained a gun from a fallen guard. He used the weapon to fire away at will at the vampires trying to still get inside the holding area. His telekinesis powers pushed away any vampires that tried to attack him. The problem came when he needed to reload his weapon. The body he'd retrieved the gun from did not have an extra clip. After using an office chair to beat in the head of another vampire, he bent down to check the body of another guard when he was suddenly riddled with bullets.

"Gotcha, you gastard!"

Drew looked up to see the meek looking Arnold Wesker; in one arm he held the mobster motif dummy called Scarface and in his other hand he held a smoking tommy gun.

"You are my gitch now," he heard the ventriloquist dummy say. "Your throat is mine! Your glood is mine. And from here until eternity you will serve in my gang!"

As Arnold stepped toward him, his face began to morph into a face of horror.

"I may be dying," gasped Drew. "But you will die before me."

Reaching out with his telekinetic abilities, Drew wrenched off one of Scarface's arms, and raised it up into the air above the Ventriloquist.

"What the hell?" exclaimed Scarface, as the dummy and ventriloquist stared up at the floating arm.

The wooden arm then plunged down into Arnold Wesker's chest, piercing his heart, and he turned to dust. Drew was able to grin just before dying.

"Retreat!" called out Tobias Whaler, his mouth red from the blood of Big Sir.

Copperhead separated from his mongoose opponent and fled, just barely ducking a boomerang that came in from the side. The mongoose took out his frustrations on another vampire that was nowhere near as swift as the snake villain; that being Ratcatcher.

"Yes!" shouted Mouse Man jumping up and down on his chair. "I have achieved dominance over the horde!" He looked over the rats remaining in the room. El Diablo was still flashing fire into screaming rodents and Double Down still had his playing cards dealing death. "Hey, you're killing my horde! Stop it! They are mine now! I control them!" He leapt onto the guards' desk area and threw a tape dispenser at El Diablo's head.

El Diablo's flames died down and glared at the diminutive villain. Double Down ceased his rodent carnage to watch Diablo and Mouse Man.

"I said stop killing my horde! They are my horde now! Mine!"

The tattooed man towered over the tiny man. But Mouse Man didn't care about the difference between them in height or the fact that the big man could control fire. Mouse Man stuck out his chin and dared the bigger man to do anything.

"You can control the rats?"

"I can now!" he insisted.

Chato Santana did not like rats. There had been too many in his childhood. But he could see how they could be used as a weapon if they could be controlled. "Then keep them from being underfoot and we won't have a problem."

Mouse Man leapt down and began to check over his remaining horde. He killed those that were grievously wounded or burned, and patched those that had minor injuries."

Double Down chuckled. "So Mickey gets his own club now, does he?"

El Diablo pointed down to a dead guard that the rats had managed to overwhelm. "If they can do something like that, then yes I want him and his horde on our side."

Double Down stared down at the guard who was almost skinless. "I can't even tell which guard that was."

"You and I will guard the door so that we will not be attacked again."

Jeremy Tell was about to protest when he remembered that the fire that the Hispanic man had used had actually singed his playing cards. Something that had never happened before. He'd had a card get shot before. And it would heal after two days next to his skin. But fire had never affected it before. He was sure that his cards were fire proof. And yet El Diablo's fire had singed them. It made him wonder just what kind of fire did this El Diablo use and where did it come from.

The Thinker stood over Big Sir's body. The battle between the Big Sir/Thinker and Tobias Whale had been exhilarating. Cliff had been sure that his higher intellect and mental speed would give him a considerable advantage over the albino mobster. But Cliff had never been much of a fighter himself, so even though his higher brain functions let him know several fighting styles, he had no practical experience. And then there was the fact that Tobias Whale fought dirty. And had faster than normal reflex since he was a vampire.

With a heavy sigh, Cliff turned away from his dead fighter and made his way over to Super-Chief's cell to get himself acquainted with his next fighter. Cliff was sure he'd be able to do better the next time.

Twister had given Stalnoivolk some wet napkins to wipe his eyes with. The Russian thanked her, stopping only when he noticed the unconscious figure of Condiment King being guarded by Phobia.

He stormed determinedly over to the comical vampire villain ready to dismember him for the pain he'd managed to put him through.

"You may torture him," Phobia stated.

"I will kill him!" growled the Russian.

She looked up at him, not using her powers of fear at all. "And then his pain will be no more, and we will have learned nothing from all this." She kept eye contact. "He must know something; and at this point we need to learn everything."

He glared through his watery red eyes. "Torture then?"

She nodded. "We don't have long so you will have to be quick to get both the answers we need as well as your revenge."

He wiped his eyes again. It was rare when a woman showed no fear around him. But this was not the time to dwell on such things. He grabbed one the ridiculous villain's legs and dragged him into one of the cells, where he could have more privacy.

Phobia went to the control panel for the cells and closed the door while engaging the soundproofing

Taking one of the canisters that fueled the Condiment King's strange gun, Stalnoivolk broke it open with his brute strength. Then, he held his unconscious prisoner's eye lid open and poured the spicy hot sauce directly into the vampire's eye.

As the vampire woke up screaming, Stalnoivolk began to break the vampire's limbs to take away his abilities to fight back or get away.

Count Vertigo and the Tattooed Man stood over Multi-Man, watching as he slowly bled out. Multi-Man's limbs were extended at various lengths, slowly growing and shortening. His lower left leg was four inches long while the upper part of his left leg was extended almost eight feet long. The rest of his limbs were similarly different.

"I'd say from the amount of dust around him, that he at least killed the vampire that got him." The Tattooed Man glanced around uneasily.

"The clown with the vulture mask on." Captain Boomerang sauntered over as he inspected one of his retrieved gimmicked boomerangs. "Jeez, left him in a bit of a mess, didn't he?"

"We'll have to leave him behind," Werner said.

"Why?" Digger bit into an apple that he'd found over by the control panel for all the cells.

"He's dying!" snapped the Tattooed Man.

Digger took another bite of his apple. "He's taking his bloody time doing it to." With a flick of his wrist, he sent his boomerang directly into Multi-Man's heart, killing him.

"What the hell?" Richards took a swing at Digger, but the Australian ducked. He still wasn't fast enough for Zytle. Harkness found himself flat on his back with the world seemingly spinning fast around him.

"Werner!" John Economos pushed himself forward. "Stand down!"

"He just killed a man in cold blood!" bellowed Richards. "I don't care if you do call this the group the Suicide Squad! Teammates don't do things like that to other teammates!"

"Harkness just helped Pramble recover faster," Economos said even louder.

"Recover faster my left foot!" Richards snapped. "He's dead!"

"Looks recovered to me," snarked Digger who was starting to sit up.

Count Vertigo pointed down where Multi-Man was. "Richards, just look."

Duncan Pramble, the Multi-Man, was sitting up, looking completely unharmed. "I hate dying in such a messy manner," he grumbled, his hands shaking from the trauma.

"So what kinda super thing can you do?" Digger asked, smirking as he pat himself on the back. He looked at the Tattooed Man. "That's what he does, you know, in case you weren't listening to Johnboy earlier. Dies and comes back with a different power, he does."

As if in answer to his question, giant butterfly wings unfolded from Pramble's back. "Um, I guess I fly?"

Digger grumbled to himself, then threw another of his boomerangs that hit Pramble smack between the eyes, killing him instantly.

The Tattooed Man struck Captain Boomerang to the side of the head, then pounced on the Aussie, and began to pummel him mercilessly

"Damnit," grumbled John. "Werner, would you mind stopping them? We need them both as fit as they can be."

With a nod, Count Vertigo gave both the Tattooed Man and Captain Boomerang a sudden bout of severe vertigo. Both men began floundering on the floor, and in the case of Digger, vomiting.

Duncan Pramble sat up again, looking very annoyed. He'd never been resurrected so soon after having just come back from being killed. He hadn't even been sure it was possible. Seeing Captain Boomerang on the floor, Multi-Man started to tell him off only for there to be a sonic explosion that shook everything in front of him, especially Captain Boomerang.

"B-b-bloody h-hell, what was that?" Digger pulled at his ears which were hurting from the ringing, and puke still marking the sides of his mouth.

John was also trying to clear the ringing out of his ears. "Damn! Pramble must have some kind of sonic voice - sort of like Black Canary."

Multi-Man looked at them in surprise, and then started to say something without thinking. Another explosion of sound struck Economos, sending him backwards over the guards' desk.

Werner's cybernetic implant that allowed him hear were able to protect him from the over loud tone, though he had to put up with the sonic waves that seemed to batter away at him. "Pramble! Try to whisper!"

Pramble was looking around in surprise at the state of the room, but wasn't sure how much of the damage he had caused in comparison to what the vampires had done. "Is this better?" His voice reverberated like the bell of a large cathedral, but it was more than bearable.

John scrambled up onto his feet with his glasses lopsided on his face. "Crap, I may have broken a rib. Or at least cracked one."

Mouse Man could be heard shouting ' _Sqee_!' once more as he quickly rounded up his started horde of rats before they scattered yet again. It was a nice distraction for the others to watch as they picked themselves off the floor.

"Mouse Man," called out Werner. "Take your pack of rats into the hall and see if you can determine which way the vampires ran off to, or if they are trying to ambush us."

The miniature villain paused to glower at Multi-Man, then turned and marched his unusual army into the hall as he passed a vigilant Double Down and El Diablo.

"How'd you take out your vamp?" asked the Tattooed Man.

Multi-Man stretched, checking to see how his current body worked. "I didn't. At least not really." His voice had an echo like brass sound to it. "I was trying to keep that guy in the Vulture mask off of me."

"I think he actually called himself the Vulture," John stated from where he leaned against a desk, and gingerly felt at his ribs. "Just cracked," he mumbled to himself with a wince of pain.

Captain Boomerang picked up his weapons from the floor. "He's just one of those mask guys with no special weapons or powers to trademark who he is, right? I hate those bums."

Multi-Man just nodded. "Vulture. Probably that's what he called himself." He walked over to water cooler to get a cup of water, stepping clear of the Electrocutioner who was still recharging himself. "My limbs could extend and shrink at will. It kept the Vulture at bay at first, but he made it threw my defenses and bit me. The next thing I know, he starts to scream and explodes into dust."

" _Liquid Light_ ," chucked Boomerang.

"What was that, Harkness?" asked Count Vertigo. He'd retrieved another gun on the floor as well as extra bullets that he found on a dead guard. After loading the weapon, and engaging the safety, he tucked it in with his belt.

Captain Boomerang grinned at having noticed the answer before the rest of them. "Your boy John here said it earlier. Pointy ears here guzzled down a potion or whatever called ' _Liquid Light_ '. That very stuff is what keeps bringing him back to life." He smirked. "Don't you get it? Vampires are dead creatures, and whatever it was that big head drank is the very opposite. Plus, light is supposed to kill vampires."

"You might be onto something," John said. "I'll see if I can have some people look at the samples of blood we have from Pramble."

Multi-Man stared at him "You have samples of my blood?"

"We have samples of everyone's blood, including me and everyone that works here," stated Economos. "There's people with lots of weird powers here. We need a baseline to check things with. Also, sometimes someone with power transfer them to someone else. That would probably show up in a blood screen test."

Werner shook his head. "More like someone wants to see if they can manufacture powers through DNA studies."

John shook his head. "I don't know anything about that. It wouldn't be my department. Hell, I'm usually not involved in anything related to Task Force X."

"Suicide Squad," Harkness corrected.

John frowned, but turned to a locked panel in the wall. "This is something I do know about." After punching in a code on a keypad and then allowing a retinal scan, the panel unlocked and slid open, allowing a shelving unit on wheels to roll out. "Inside these bins are your costumes and weapons."

"Uniforms, mate. Not costumes," Harkness once again corrected him.

"Regardless of whatever term is appropriate, Waller kept them ready in case any of the prisoners in the holding area had to be sent immediately on a mission. And as far as I am concerned, this counts."

Unplugging himself from the electrical outlet, Lester Buchinsky walked to a plastic bin that had his name on it. He opened it immediately. "Yes! Now I can fire bolt of electricity instead of having to risk physical contact!"

Multi-Man pulled out his blue and red uniform, which consisted of a sleeveless blue shirt with a high extended red collar, blue shorts, and red gloves and boots.

"You know," began Harkness, "there is this guy that me and the Rogues go to for our costumes back in Central City. He's pretty good, and you could use a better look."

"What's wrong with my look," rumbled Multi-Man.

"Pretty much everything," muttered the Electrocutioner.

Pramble held his arms out as he looked at his uniform. "I suppose it could stand to be updated."

"Yeah, but not today," snapped John. "We need to hurry. We don't know went those vampires will be back with reinforcements."

Pramble walked away from the group to something he hadn't noticed before. "They killed Ratchet?" He looked down at the corpse of Big Sir that had been brutally savaged.

"You knew him?" Count Vertigo stood next to him.

"Yeah, a few of us decided that the whole villain thing wasn't working for us so we tried to be heroes for a while. But we weren't taken seriously." He sighed.

Werner Zytle shook his head. "Just so you know, before we leave we will have to behead him."

Pramble stared at him, unable to speak.

"We can't let him or anyone else that has been bitten come back as a vampire."

He was surprised at the tears. "You're right, I know that. But it still feels wrong."

Count Vertigo nodded. "That what we do in the Suicide Squad; we do wrong to try make things right."

"That's messed up."

Werner nodded. "Yes it is."

¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`

 **AuThOr'S NoTeS**

 _I'm really looking forward to the upcoming_ _Suicide Squad_ _movie. True, I wish it had been made into a TV series so there would be many more hours of it to so, but that is just me._

 _This chapter was longer than I expected. Hopefully no one thought I ran on too much._

 _In case no one has guessed, I am trying to bring up many of the various characters that have been included in the Suicide Squad in the comics. So far that includes Big Sir, Bolt, Bronze Tiger, Captain Boomerang, Cheetah, Coldsnap, Copperhead, Count Vertigo, Deadshot, Double Down, El Diablo, Electrocutioner II, Rick Flag, Harley Quinn, Heatstroke, Icicle II, Jewelee, Killer Frost, Knockout, Manhunter IV, Multi-Man, Nightshade, Peacemaker, Penguin, Plasmus, Plastique, Stalnoivolk, Tattooed Man II, Thinker II & Vixen._

 **GLOSSARY**

 **Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane –** A prison in Gotham City where many of Batman's enemies are imprisoned for treatment.

 **Belle Reve** – A prison in Louisiana specially designed to incarcerate metahumans which also services as the headquarters of the Suicide Squad.

 **Big Sir / Ratchett, Dufus P.** – Ratchett ws born a malformed brain gland that caused him to grow to incredible proportions but left him mentally handicapped. He was later abducted from his Central City Breedmore Mental Hospital home by a group of supervillains, the Rogue's Gallery, who equipped him with a high-tech suit of armor created by the Monitor. This suit was heavily armored, could fly, and included a powerful energy mace.

 **Brotherhood of Evil –** A team of supervillains, who work to defeat both the Doom Patrol (especially The Chief) and the Teen Titans. At first it was believed their goal to be world domination, but it's true purpose was to destroy The Chief. Members include The Brain, Monsieur Mallah, Plasmus, Hougan, Phobia and Warp.

 **Captain Boomerang / Harkness, George '** ** _Digger_** **' –** Growing up in Australia, Harkness discovered he had an incredible talent when it came to boomerangs. Later, he began making trick boomerangs to help him break the law and to fight the Flash.

 **Captain Calamity / Mr. ESPer –** An early foe of the Batman, he used an ultrasonic projector machine to put 'telepathic' suggestions in people to manipulate them. Later he faced the Teen Titans with a device that could tap into psychic powers of some people.

 **Codename: Assassin –** Jonathan Drew participated in Extrasensory perception studies. Due to an inexplicable accident, Jonathan developed powers of telepathy and telekinesis which he later used to punish the murderers of his sister.

 **Condiment King / Mayo, Mitchell –** Mayo was a comedian that had been brainwashed by the Joker to become a supervillain using condiments for weapons.

 **Copperhead –** His origins were unknown, the master contortionist and escape artist used a snake motif to commit crimes. Copperhead was one of the villains who made a deal with the demon Neron to gain the powers of a true copperhead snake.

 **Count Vertigo / Zytle, Count Werner** – The child of the deposed rulers of the country of Vlatava. He is one of Green Arrow's arch nemeses. He uses a device implanted in his head to disorient his foes, and can fly. He also suffers from a bi-polar disorder.

 **Double Down / Tell, Jeremy** – Jeremy Tell is a con artist and compulsive gambler. After losing all his money in a game, he murders the gambler who walked away from the table with the most money. A cursed deck of cards owned by the man he murdered attacks him and bonds to his skin. He finds that he can mentally detach and direct the cards for various effects. Taking the name Double Down, he joins Keystone City's supervillain community.

 **Economos, John –** The warden of Belle Reve, the prison that doubles as the secret headquarters of the Suicide Squad.

 **Egghead / Heed, Edgar –** Heed believes himself to be 'the world's smartest criminal' using eggs as his motif and many egg puns. He was so ridiculous that he was quick went to Arkham.

 **El Diablo / Santana, Chato –** While being treated at a hospital, Chato Santana encountered a comatose man named Lazarus Lane, who transferred some of his powers to Santanna. Santanna used his new powers over fire to burn down a building for revenge against some gang members. When he later learned that the fire had also killed an innocent woman and a child, he turned himself in.

 **Electrocutioner II / Buchinsky, Lester** – Initially working in the cause of justice just like the first Electrocutioner, Lester Buchinsky became a criminal and mercenary. Overly reliant on his ability to generate electricity, the Electrocutioner has faced (and been defeated by) Batman, Robin, and Nightwing. The Electrocutioner's costume possesses circuitry that allows him to either stun or kill his victims at will with a bolt of electricity. A touch from one of his hands delivers a severe shock, but when both his hands touch a victim the circuit is completed and the victim dies.

 **Flag, Rick –** an elite soldier working for Task Force X, and the leader of the Suicide Squad. Beginning his career as a fighter pilot, he started going on suicide missions after a tragedy wiped out his entire unit. Flag would later go to work under Amanda Waller, leading missions in the field. After disagreeing with Waller, Flag went on an unsanctioned suicide mission to take out the metahuman terrorist group known as Jihad by detonating an old Nazi prototype nuclear weapon in their stronghold while he was still inside.

 **Mouse Man** – His history is unknown, except that he was somehow shrunken by chemicals. He wears a furry mouse costume and commits crimes with rodents that he is able to control by repeatedly shouting the world "SQEE!" He also has a superiority complex, especially in regards to females.

 **Multi-Man / Pramble, Duncan** – He was a research assistant to an archaeologistm Dr. Ferris, who he accompanied Dr. Ferris as well as the Challengers of the Unknown on an expedition to an island. Within the ruins of the island, Pramble discovered an ancient elixir known as "Liquid Light." According to nearby hieroglyphs, consumption of this elixir granted the imbiber additional lives. With each new life, the partaker would also receive a new power. Pramble greedily drank the chemical fluid and, as promised, gained extraordinary new powers. He decided to use his new powers to become a criminal and turned his attention towards defeating the Challengers.

 **Phobia / Hawkins, Angela–** Angela Hawkins was born into British aristocracy. She has the psychic ability to detect other people's fears and project them with great intensity.

 **Ratcatcher / Flannigan, Otis –** He had an uncanny ability to train rodents which he used to commit crimes.

 **Stalnoivolk –** Looking for a super-being to counter the Nazis during WWII, Stalin created Stalnoivolk, the 'Steel Wolf', a soldier of immense power. Stalnoivolk has super-strength and invulnerability. After the war he became a political puppet of the USSR's military, taking place in various political and ethnic purgings. He was always meant to represent the indomitable spirit of the Russian people. When Russia changed leaders, he was shelved for several decades. Later in the late 1980's, Stalnoivolk was reactivated.

 **Suicide Squad / Task Force X** – A team of super-villains running missions for the government in exchange for reduced prison sentences.

 **Super-Chief / Flying Stag –** An Iroquois warrior who gained powers hundreds of years ago from a radioactive meteorite fragment. His powers included super strength. super speed and flying.

 **Tattooed Man II / Richards, Mark –** When serving with the U.S. Marines, Mark Richards went missing when his helicopter exploded, and he was presumed dead for several years. He then appeared in Gotham City, operating as a hit man with the aid of seemingly living tattoos. He claimed that these tattoos were formed from the sins of people he had killed, placed on his skin through a process called sin-grafting, learned in Modora. He believed that by taking the sins on himself, he was redeeming the souls of those he had slain. All of his victims had tattoos representing their sins.

 **Thinker II / Carmichael, Cliff –** He's an arrogant, intellectual bully and prankster who went to high school with Ronnie Raymond (part of the Firestorm persona). He was wracked with guilt after accidentally paralyzing his cousin and had to be put in a mental institution. Some scientists at the institution had gained access to the 'thinking cap' of the deceased villain known as the Thinker. After puttering around with the device that could increase a person's mental abilities, the scientists began interfacing the technology directly into Carmichael's brain. He became a cyberpunk maniac who could read minds and control other people. He could also mentally control computers which put him in conflict with Oracle.

 **Twister / Zimmer, Theresa –** After becoming a convert to Brother Blood's Church of Blood, Zimmer was experimented on and was given illusion casting powers that also distorted her face and mind.

 **Ventriloquist / Wesker, Arnold –** Wesker has a dissociative identity disorder that allows him to commit ruthless crimes while maintaining a quiet and meek personality. He was only able to do this by channeling his violent side through his ventriloquist dunny Scarface, who was dressed as a 1930's gangster. Despite years of practice, he is still unable to pronounce the letter "B" while throwing his voice, instead replacing it with "G" while fighting Gatman.

 **Vulture / Lydecker, Armand –** Lydecker is part of the team of thieves known as The Terrible Trio and wore the mask of a vulture. Originally The Terrible Trio were famous inventors in Gotham City, boring rich men seeking thrills and challenges so they became a criminal band, imposing challenges to the dynamic duo. They wear business suits and masks of animals, they created their technology devices according their respective animal themes. Vulture specializes on aircraft designs.

 **Waller, Amanda '** ** _The Wall_** **'** – She's a hardline top-ranking U.S. Government agent involved in clandestine operations. Despite her non-threatening physical appearance, she is almost universally feared as one of the most ruthless women in espionage and politics. She created and runs the Suicide Squad, and has had a hand in the development of several other government organized groups.

 **Whale, Tobias** – A large, burly, albino black man, Whale ran his criminal organization on the streets of Metropolis, with his main proponent being Black Lightning. Later, he was forced to relocate to Gotham City.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

 **by Ordinaryguy2**

 **Inside the black dome covering Arkham Asylum.**

Xander Harris' life was not a boring one. Ever since learning that his town was over the Hellmouth, life had never been the same. The new, cute girl in town had turned out to be a type of mystical warrior who was called to kill the evil demonic things that were being drawn to the Hellmouth. His best friend Jesse had had the misfortune of being turned into one of those demon things: a vampire. But it had been Xander who had put Jesse down. Well, he sort of accidently staked him, but Jesse, or at least the thing that had taken over his appearance, was now just dust. Willow and Xander had joined Buffy, who reluctantly allowed them to help. For all her powers of being the Slayer, she had needed friends who understood some of what she was going through. And through that Xander had become involved with all sorts of nightmarish situations, one of which got him possessed by some sort of hyena spirit, and once on Halloween he'd actually been turned into a military soldier. Earlier today (or maybe it was tonight), Ethan Rayne, a chaos mage, had taken these two aspects buried deep in Xander's psyche and brought them to the forefront of his being and them merged or welded them together supposedly to strengthen him for the task ahead. Either way, Xander Harris was a changed man.

"-fortunately, Ivy had been able to fix Bud and Lou from all the Joker-juice they had ingested. Poor little babies. They weren't able to laugh for almost a week after that. That and they suffered from some serious intestinal issues. Lots of emphasis on the _issues_ , if you know what I mean."

Xander just grinned and nodded. He was working hard at mentally pulling himself together. The hyena in him was attracted to the woman before him, and wanted to claim her as his. The soldier aspect of him, while he found the woman to be very attractive and rather amusing, she was clearly a villain and seemed to be somewhat insane. The real Xander just thought she was hot and couldn't believe she was even taking the time to talk to him. Of course it did help that her two pets had taken to him to the point of considering him their pack leader.

"Hyenas have a hardy digestive tract. That Joker-juice must have been pretty toxic stuff to affect them."

Harley Quinn nodded as she checked one of the bandages Xander had placed on Lou's shoulder. "Yeah, Mister J tends to make it stronger than necessary so that people just die laughing."

"So… Mr. J…? Do you mean the Joker?"

She gave him a ' _are you serious look_ '. "Of course I mean the Joker. How could you not know I was talking about him? Did you grow up under a rock somewhere?"

"Naw, I grew up right above the Hellmouth in California. I've heard of some of the things that go on in Gotham City or Metropolis and get in the newspapers or sometimes are featured online, but for the most part I've been focused on all the damn vampires and demons that come to my hometown because the Hellmouth draws demons like moths to a flame. A lot of my classmates didn't make it over the years. I've been doing what I could to help the Slayer to put down demons and save people."

Harley now frowned. "So you're like a hero?"

"Sort of, I guess. Definitely one of the white hats, but usually we just take down demons and various monsters. And some military types that clashed with us. Oh, and I did the doughnut runs which is always funner than the research into old dusty tombs, looking for signs of possible apocalypses or trying to identify various things that go bump in the night and all that. Choosing between sprinkles or a maple bat? That had dangers all its own."

Harley was looking around at the various Checkmate Knights working on setting up a perimeter. "So now you work for these guys."

"Just met them today," he said honestly. "I've known some for a few years. Riley Finn over there," he pointed to where Riley was having a few stitches put into his forehead. "He used to date a good friend of mine. He was also part of the military types that we ended up clashing with when we didn't want to be a part of their mad doctor experiments."

Harley looked Riley over. He was definitely military, but he had a kinder face than most. "So what terms are you on with him now?"

Xander thought about how to answer that for second. "He dropped out of the military when he saw all they were planning. Plus, it colossally all went bad at the end. Lately, he's been a rogue demon hunter which is good, I guess. Haven't heard much from him."

"Anyone else you know here?" She sat down and gently pulled Lou into her lap, while the other hyena, Bud, sat next to Xander and got his ears scratched.

Xander knew she was fishing for information, but he didn't care. "There's Faith over there. She's also a Slayer. It's kind of a mystic predisposed thing that comes on to a young girl after the previous Slayer dies. Thanks to me knowing CPR, there are now two Slayers in the world."

"So she's a friend?"

He hesitated. "Kind of, I guess. She went dark for a while. She's doing this gig as a sort of penance, I believe. A lot of stuff went down, but she called for backup and I came."

She nodded again. For a moment she felt like how things were when she was still just a lonely, scared psychiatrist, trying to help people by talking with them. "And you know this Spike fella."

Xander let out a heavy sigh. "Yeah, known him the longest. I've even been hunted and even tortured by the bastard. But now that he has that chip in his vampire noggin, he's had to change to survive. I think he has even taking a liking to his new lot in life. It's more challenging."

"No, there had to be more to it than that." She had produced a pet comb from somewhere on her body and was using it on Lou to get some of the vampire dust off.

"He also became infatuated with Buffy. He's done a lot to try impress her."

Snorting, she shook her head. "Kind of reminds me of Catwoman."

"How do you mean?"

She gave a conspirator whisper. "She's kinda got a crush on Batman."

"Isn't she a high-end cat burglar?" he asked, skeptically.

That got her to laugh, which made Bud and Lou join in. "Oh, she is so much more than that. If she wasn't, I wouldn't a' brought her along."

Xander nodded. "I can see how that can be conflicting for a relationship." Scratching his neck, he glanced over at her again. "So, out of curiosity, are you currently in a relationship with anyone?" In his head, he ran a rapid mantra over and over. ' _Please, don't say the clown! Please, don't say the clown! Please, don't say the clown!_ '

She gave a sheepish shrug. "Mister J and I are kinda on the outs with each other on account of him throwing me out of the getaway car while the Batman was chasing us."

"But he's why you are here. You came to try save him from a vampire apocalypse."

He let out a heavy sigh. "You know," he scratched his chin. "If you don't mind my opinion, it, uh, sounds like an abusive relationship to me."

Her face steeled as she pulled Lou's head closer. "What the hell do you know about it? You don't know me or Mr. J!"

"True, but I know my parents. And trust me, they are not good for each other. Or me."

"Yeah, well…! I don't want to talk about it!" Grabbing her long handled hammer, she stormed away toward Catwoman a dozen yards away.

The two hyenas jumped to their feet, but stopped to look at Xander. Xander quickly made a motion for them to follow Harley, which they happily did.

¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯

Louie the Lilac groaned in pain as Lady Vic cut off another of his fingers. Standing above them, Blue Devil turned away from the gruesome scene but stayed where he was only because it was the former stuntman's trident that was pinning the vampire to the ground.

"Damn you all! I tell ya I don't know who put the dome up!"

Spike was leaning against a nearby tree, smoking a cigarette. "You know, luv, if you want some critiquing on your torturing technique, just say the word."

"I got this!" snarled Lady Vic, the English noblewoman's hair all out of place. "I've never had anyone not break down and spill his guts out during my interrogations. And this violet covered pansy is not going to be the first!"

Overlooking the scene, Faith wondered if she would have turned into something like Lady Vic if she'd stayed with Mayor Wilkins. Regaining her humanity had not been easy. It was even more difficult while doing it in jail. And now she worked in Waller's special unit that dealt with demons and other things that go bump in the night. At least it was familiar work. And she had gained a few friends like Black Thorn and Wild Dog. But Sumo had been the one who taught her to find focus and had made her his unofficial student. Then, later, with his dying breath, he passed on his sword to her which she wore strapped to her back.

Faith didn't like waiting around as a rule. But they needed information, so she had sent out ten operatives to scout the area. And since Waller placed her in charge of this rabble, she couldn't pull a Captain Kirk and go looking herself.

"I hate waiting," she grumbled as she left Lady Vic to her work and checked on the others.

She carefully stepped over the rune symbols etched into the ground. The ceasing of the screaming on the other side was something of a relief to her.

"They almost done in there?" Sirius Black sat on the ground, sitting a cup of tea. "Because I am not happy with this whole torture thing."

She accepted a cup of tea that Sirius created for him. "Yeah, I agree. Unfortunately, we really need intel." She took a sip and looked around. "That silencing field you created works well."

He nodded. "Yes. I just never figured I'd be using it for the purposes of torturing. I used to be one of those that hunted down the people that did things like that."

She nodded. "So what did you use it for?"

"Oh, let's just say that the ladies I befriended could be rather vocal." He then gave her a saucy wink.

She grinned back. "I don't know. I think prison life may have worn you down some."

His smile faltered a bit. "You've been talking to Waller."

"She gave me your file to read. Waller seems to think you deserve an honest shake." She took drink of her tea.

"Oh really?" Sirius shook his head. "And to think I didn't even try to bed her."

Faith spat her tea everywhere.

"Something wrong?" he asked innocently.

"You did that on purpose!" She shook off some of the tea on her clothing.

"Me?" He gave a hurt look. He waved his wand leaving her clean and dry again.

"Don't point that stick at me without my permission," she said in her best no-nonsense tone.

Coming to his feet, Sirius gave her a bow. "As you wish, my lady," he said, with a slight grin.

"You are just so lucky you are cute."

"Truer words have never been spoken."

Faith had the feeling that this man just might be interesting enough to latch onto except for the fact that he was trying to get back to his home dimension. If it was one thing Faith knew, it's that long-distance romances don't work.

"I'd going to check on things. Send word if Louie the Lilac in there decides to share with us."

While they waited for their spies to return, Faith had set up for her people go over all that had happened during their confrontation with the group of vampires. Basically, they covered what they did right and what they did wrong. It had also helped for them to learn about what the others could actually do. Riley Finn and Black Thorn were demonstrating to them the best moves to use for those without any superpowers with Wild Dog as the subject of their abuse. The Knights took it the most serious. But surprisingly so did the Penguin and the Question. Others, like Hellhound and Metallo were just amused.

"Hey, people!" she called out. "Take this serious. These things are going to be going for your throats, unless of course they decide to play with you instead. And trust me, the way they play with their food…, it's worse than anything you've seen in horror movies."

"Hey, lady." Keith Kenyon, otherwise known as the retired supervillain turned union leader Goldface, walked over to her. He was still upset over getting railroaded into the cockamamie venture, and he wanted someone to hear about it. "This crap is stupid. A lot of us have superpowers. These vampires of yours aren't going to give us much trouble."

She shook her head at his stupidity. "These vamps you faced are the easiest to fight. As they get older, there is a deviousness that comes to play that changes the rules." She turned. "Hey, Spike. You got a minute?"

The peroxide blonde vampire who had followed out after she left the interrogation took a last drag on his cigarette before tossing it away, and walking over. "What's up, luv?"

She kept a small smile on her face. "I'm trying to explain to goldenboy here that vamps fight more dangerously and more dirty than anything he has ever seen."

Spike nodded. "Yeah, so?"

"He doesn't believe me."

"Oh really?" He started to take off his jacket even as Goldface realized he might have a fight on his hands.

Faith wasn't sure if letting them fight was a good idea or not. She wasn't sure if the computer chip in Spike's brain would consider a meta-human like Goldface a human or not. If he could take on meta-humans without repercussions, it could lead to Spike becoming a full blown super-villain just for the sake of restoring his bad name. "Actually, Spike," she said, making sure to stay between the two males. "I was hoping you could explain what you would do if you had to take down an opponent that was super strong and invulnerable like Goldface."

Spike nodded in understanding. Faith just wanted to get Goldface and the others to take things more serious. "I've faced a few demons like that. They pretty much think they are the best thing to walk out of hell. Overconfident bastards. They still had vulnerabilities, they just didn't think anyone could exploit them."

"Like what?" growled Goldface.

"The eyes, mate," Spike hissed malevolently. "The eyes maybe the windows to the soul, but they are also the windows to the brainpan. You stick something long, thin and sharp through the eye, making sure to go nice and steep before stirring things around, and suddenly they don't want to fight anymore."

Goldface gulped nervously as he backed away from the vampire.

"You could do it with the ears, too, but the eyes are better because then you can see the look of shock and surprise on their face right before they turn into a vegetable. Of course, you could go the route of the respiratory system. Either cutting off the air supply or trying to drown them. That has risks though. All that flailing around, you know. Poison works, too. Or a strong enough acid or a hot enough flame. Then there are all sorts of magical thingies. Some will turn a body inside out, and it wouldn't matter if they were invulnerable or not."

Faith gave Goldface a grin. "Innovating, isn't he?"

Goldface looked back to where the training exercises were still going on. "I suppose I could stand to watch some more."

"You go do that," she said. "The life you save could be your own."

Spike chuckled as Goldface hurried away. "I guess he doesn't want to hear about putting an ice pick up the back door. Killed a Chaos demon that way back in-"

"I'm coming in! I'm coming in!" came a shout over the radio speaker. "There's one on my tail!"

"Where are they?" Faith called out as everyone took their positions.

"It's Deadline!" Metallo hollered, pointing up into the black sky. "Can't see anything following him though."

"That's because your eyes are robotic," stated Heatwave. "Remember, you can't see them if they are vampires. It's the whole ' _vampires don't cast a reflection_ ' thing."

"Assume whatever's chasing Deadline is another vampire!" called out Black Thorn. "And there may be more than one.

"Can anyone get a visual?" called out one of the Knights.

"He's nearly two thousand yards there." Metallo pointed up into the darkness. "He's flying on those two discs he stands on."

The figure wearing a black bodysuit with orange-ish-golden armor and helmet streaked through the black sky toward them like a falling star on his aero discs.

"Gangway!" He shouted, shooting his rifle blindly behind him as he shortened the distance between him and his teammates.

There was a shrill, loud screaming cry, and then something swooped in above Deadline, striking the assassin hard enough to knock the wind out of him as he tumbled through the air. Another hit left him unconscious. Wings filled the blackness and darted away with it's catch.

"That was Man-Bat!" Catwoman exclaimed, crouching down in surprise, as her eyes darted about for any other creatures about to leap out of the dark at them.

"Doesn't matter which bat freak it was," spoke the bowman assassin known as Merlyn said. With that he fired off a magnesium flare above where they had seen the battle in the air. "We still have to kill it," he said with finality.

Man-Bat could be seen in the light of the flare, flapping massive bat wings, with Deadline dangling limply from his claw-like feet. The hybrid man shied away from the bright light, screeching in anger or pain, and turned to fly away. Four more Checkmate Knights fired flares in the area around the flying bat-like creature.

"Now that is what a vampire should look like," commented the faceless vigilante known as the Question.

"I got him!" The flame covered Heatstroke shot up into the air, her yellow and red costume making it easy to see her in the inky artificial darkness over Arkham.

"Joanne! No!" Wearing a white and blue outfit, Coldsnap, Heatstroke's longtime boyfriend, could only watch as she flew away. "We promised each other no heroics!"

"She's in the way!" Snapper Carr had just got J.A.K.E. 2, the old WWII robot that he had the controls for, into position to try take out the Man-Bat, but before he could line up his shot, he now had a flying flaming woman filling up his view. Some of the Knights that were spread out further still had clear view, but the distance was proving to be difficult.

"Stop! You'll shoot Joanne!" Coldsnap held his hands out began forming ice barricades in front of the Knights.

"Stand down, Coldsnap!" commanded Dale Gunn, an older black man wearing armor similar to the Knights. "The Knights are trained to be marksmen. They won't shoot Heatstroke unless they were told to."

There was one person shooting with more zeal than sense. Peacemaker fired multiple rounds not caring for the villainess in the way. Those bullets that would have hit Heatstroke, melted away before they could have hurt her. Only a few lasted long enough to hit her as with a low powered paintgun pellet. Several bullets did get around her. Some hitting the Man-Bat, and some his prey, Deadline. Coldsnap responded by creating a mini-mound of ice around the psychotic hero, making sure his hands and feet were thoroughly entrenched in the ice.

Man-Bat screeched his outrage at being injured. It wasn't just his body being assaulted though. The gunshots were excessively painful to his bat-like ears which worked even better now that he had been changed into a vampire.

Heatstroke, seeing that Man-Bat didn't like the light, made her body flare up as she approached him. Inside, she couldn't believe she was doing this. She didn't even know Deadline. But she and Darryl had been promised aid in removing their powers so that the two lovers could be together. If she proved herself heroic here at this moment, then that should be enough to convince Waller that they had been genuinely been helping. She and Darryl would be free to just watch each other's backs for the rest of the damn mission, and hopefully get out unscathed.

Her plans were quickly undone as a figure of a man in yellow with a red hood and cap quickly flew up from the Arkham Asylum. As he approached, she could see two large red 'X's on his chest. Heatstroke didn't wait for introductions. Using her powers, she created a great flare that shot out from her outstretched hands like from a flamethrower.

The caped flying man didn't veer from his path as he passed through the flames effortlessly and straight at her.

"Oh crap!" She dived down and towards the other members of Task Force X. "Oh crap! Oh crap! Oh crap!"

Down below, everybody was scrambling.

"He's fireproof!" shouted Heat Wave. He'd been enjoying the fire display up above. But with the caped guy not burning up like he was supposed to, the moment was ruined for him. "Somebody hit that guy before he puts out her flame permanently!"

"I got this! I got him!" Baby Boom moved forward as she gauged the distance of the two incoming figures.

Behind her stood her stood the walking skeleton known as Mr. Bones, or rather now ' _Director_ ' Bones since he was working for the U.S. Department of Extranormal Operations (D.E.O.). "Easy, Babes. We don't want to lose the woman."

The toddler-sized Baby Boom rolled her eyes. "Oh, like you really need her when you have me around." She began to focus her powers when the figure chasing after Heatstroke came within her range.

A series of explosives filled the air, sending Heatstroke hurdling downwards.

Coldsnap shouted out her name. "Joanne!" He hurried to where it looked like she was going to fall, and began pouring out his powers to form large amounts of snow. So much snow that several people had not been able to get clear in time to be suddenly half buried.

" _Impedimenta_!"

Though she had been stunned by the explosions, her momentum falling slowed the closer she got to the ground.

Coldsnap glanced back to see Sirius Black give him a nod. He then braced himself to catch the woman he loved.

"Out of the way, squirt!"

Coldsnap found himself suddenly knocked off the large mound of snow he had created. Heat Wave stood at the top and readied himself to catch the fiery woman.

Heat Wave took a moment to call out to the cold-powered villain. "You two can't touch due to your powers, remember?" And with that he caught Heatstroke who still had a few flames flickering about her, though his fireproof outfit kept him safe.

Penguin pulled himself out of the snowdrift, shaking the snow off. When he looked up again, he instantly recognized the flying man from among the list of Batman foes. "That's Dr. Double X!" he squawked.

Another set of explosions lit up the sky, knocking several people over.

"Why the hell isn't he blowing up?" screamed Baby Boom.

"He's an astral projection or some garbage like that!" snapped the Penguin. "You can't hurt him with explosions!"

"But that's not fair!" she pouted.

Bones saw the flying man, now identified as Doctor Double X, move straight towards Baby Boom. Director Bones grabbed his -for all intents and purposes- ' _sibling_ ' under his arm and ran for cover.

"What the hell is going on?" shouted Metallo, confused since he couldn't see the enemy himself.

Bones ignored him, and instead dodged behind the sturdy cyborg just as Dr. Double X let out a powerful electrical blast that sent Metallo crashing into Director Bones.

Though bullets had no effect, people kept shooting at the apparition. Doctor Double X floated above them chuckling at the sight. "So much prey for our hungry mouths. My host will be very pleased to partake of your blood."

"Somebody kill this thing already!" Faith shouted.

A series of musical notes filled the air causing the phantom-like Doctor Double X to start to dance in a rhythmic beat as if he were part of a riverdance group.

The green wearing Pied Piper blew on his pipes to create the controlling melody. Creeper, Wild Dog, Clem, Hellhound, and a few Knights close to Doctor Double X were also finding themselves compelled to dance a merry jig.

"You dare to make me a mockery?" growled the astral man-monster. Even as he danced, he pointed a finger at the Pied Piper and fired off a blast of energy.

The Trickster instantly tackled his fellow Rogue out of the way, saving the Piper's life, but stopping his music.

Chris King saw the situation only getting worse, so concentrated on the energies of the Dial-H discs that he had absorbed into his body over the years. Using the fragment of a cosmic egg shell, he was instantly transformed into another marvelous hero.

"Apparition!" the new figure called out. "No more shall you afflict those of this world. So says Brother Voodoo!"

Faith, the Dark Slayer, was hunched down next to the iceberg that held the cursing Peacemaker. Almost next to her was Riley Finn. "What is with these guys and their cheesy names?"

Before Finn could reply, the black Hattian Brother Voodoo threw some white dust into the air that rapidly took the form of two large ghostly anacondas. Both snakes wrapped themselves around the astral figure, surprising him by being able to come into contact with him.

"No!" he bellowed, his face taking on the vampiric features in his rage. He raged around, and soon was forcing the snakes off of him.

"Did you know he's also super-strong?" the Penguin called out to no one in particular.

"Now he tells us," groused Riley.

Faith could only agree. "Yeah, because having an astral body that can fly and shoot electricity isn't enough; you just have to add super-strength to the mix."

"I'm going to try something," said someone behind them.

Faith looked back at the wizard. "You got a spell for this. If it works, you'll get a kiss."

Sirius Black gave her a wink. "Then I better do this right." Raising his wand in the direction of the nearly free Doctor Double X, Black concentrated and called out, " _Expecto Patronum_!"

An illuminous, silvery-white Grim-like dog formed out of the mist that poured out of his wand with it's teeth bared. The misty canine seemed to let out a silent howl as it charged the villain that was tearing apart the snake things.

Doctor Double X was barely able to lift a finger to defend himself when he was suddenly enveloped by the attacking dog.

Within seconds the astral villain was no more, fading away even as he was being torn apart. The patronus dog walked around sniffing the air for it's foe before it too faded away.

The Creeper let out a laugh into the false night air. "We'll that was amusing!"

The Question pulled himself out of the snow drift. "Only if you call nearly being wiped out by a super-powered ghost amusing."

Metallo sat up with a groan. "Somebody get the make and model of the tank that hit me?"

"Nooo!"

"What the…?" Metallo hadn't had a chance to say any more since he was suddenly struck from behind which sent him about a dozen feet away where he nearly fell on Dale Gunn and one of the Knights. "Who the hell hit me that time?" shouted the cyborg. Metallo turned to see if his opponent was visible this time. "I'm gonna-"

His words fell flat at the sight of Director Bones sitting on the ground holding the broken body of Baby Boom to his chest.

Brother Voodoo floated over to the skeletal man. "I am also a medical doctor."

Bones shook his head. "It won't matter. When the robot fell on us, she made contact with my skin. My cyanide touch kills everyone it comes into contact with."

Brother Voodoo still made a wave of his hand over the small form. Then nodded in confirmation and left the meta-human to his pain. And without prelude, Brother Voodoo shifted back into Chris King.

"Man-Bat made off with Deadline," announced Catwoman.

"Of course he did," grumbled Faith. "Anyone get a peep into where the enormous bat flew to?"

"To Arkham," answered Black Thorn who was frowning as she faced the institute.

"Well, that's not 5 by 5," she snorted.

"You guys have been having fun."

Faith glanced back to see the tall figure of Blue Devil. "Hey, I thought you were keeping tabs on the violet vampire?"

"Interrogation is over. I didn't like Lady Vic's questions, so I changed them. Worked, too. I got answers."

"I'd like to hear that." Riley walked over, letting the Knights return to their duties of guarding the perimeter. "And it better be quick. If the vampires didn't know we were here before, they sure know we are now."

Blue Devil nodded in agreement. "It seems our good friend Louie the Lilac didn't know anything about how the dome came to be. But he did know how the vampire invasion began."

"Didn't they happen at the same time?"

"More or less, yes. It's just that Louie didn't figure the head of the vampires was the one to have created the dome over us."

"Why's that?"

"Because he said she seemed mentally impaired."

"How is that again?" Spike stood there in full cocky form. "Who did he say led the vampires here?"

Dan Cassidy, now the Blue Devil, was not easily intimidated since he'd adjusted to being turned into a demon, but even he knew to be cautious when Spike got his dander up. "He said her name was Drusilla."

At first the vampire was as still as a statue, then, cursing, he leapt for the Blue Devil's throat. Cassidy managed to get the staff section of his trident in the way before Spike could injure him. Faith jumped onto Spike's back, trying to pull him off.

"Pull it together, Spike!" She hit him hard in the head with her silver-bonded brass knuckles, dropping him to the floor. "I know you have problems with your ex! Hell, who doesn't have trouble with their exes, right?" She took a few steps back from the vampire. "But I need you to tell me right now: Are you going to be on our side, or hers?"

Spike groaned as he got to his feet, slapping Clem away when the demon tried to help him. He cracked his neck twice before looking Faith in the eye. "I'm all yours, luv. Just don't expect me to be my normal cheery self." He ignored all the weapons trained on him as he lit a cigarette.

"Anything else, Cassidy?" Faith asked, hoping for something to distract the tension.

"I don't know if it means much," he said. "But Louie, Pharaoh, Maxie Zeus and the rest of them refused to join the main lot of vampires that had been sired here. Said they would rule themselves."

"So Drusilla and company just left them here?"

Cassidy shook his horned head. "Nope. She left a small force behind to make Louie and his friends to reconsider her offer or dust them. Louie and the rest had been searching the edges of the dome for a means of escape when they stumbled upon us."

Dale Gunn brushed off some of the snow that threatened to go down his neck. "That means that Doctor Double X could have been a part of Louie's team or part of Drusilla's held back forces."

"Ecks was pretty much a by himself kind of guy." They looked over at Harley, not having expected her to join the discussion. "I guess that's why he's a duo with himself."

"His name is 'Ecks'?" Faith asked, as she thought she heard a slight difference in pronunciation.

"Yep. Dr. Simon Ecks. He was working on something to do with human auras. Somehow he made a symbiotic energy duplicate of himself that had all kinds of powers. But like I said, it's a symbiotic relationship. The copy cannot survive long without rejoining with his creator."

"And if the original Doctor X, who is evidently a vampire, is still out there," Riley said, "Then we need to deal with him before he is able to come at us again with another duplicate."

Faith glared at all the eyes on her. "Well, break it up already. I want everyone moving in ten minutes whether we hear from our scouts or not! Blue Devil, go help Peacemaker get out of the ice. I'll go stake our Lilac friend."

"Already handled," called out Lady Vic, as she twirled a blade on the end of her gloved finger.

Before Faith could tell the English noble woman to not act so hasty next time, one of the Knights indicated she had a call. She tapped her earpiece. "Who is this?"

"Deathstroke," came the reply.

She hadn't taken the measure of Wilson yet, but she had heard a lot of his reputation. When a reputation gets that big, you don't normally question it. It's also the reason that many demons will flee if they hear that there is a Slayer in the neighborhood. It's just safer not to check on it yourself. "What do you have for me?"

"I'm standing within view of the main entrance."

"And?"

"Somebody left some kind of message."

"And that is?"

"I'm sending you a visual."

A Knight handed her a monitor. On it she could see the image turn until it was focused on something on fire mounted on a pole. As the picture grew bigger, she could make out a few more poles, as well as what was on them. "Freakin' human heads!"

"Ooooo! Let me see!" Harley looking over Faith's shoulder before she could stop her. "Hey, that Dr. Sartorius. I remember sitting in on his review and writing a paper on him when I started doing my residency here."

"Wait! You used to work here?"

Harley gave her a look of surprise. "Waller didn't tell ya?"

"I knew," Finn broke in.

"Well, why didn't anyone tell me?" Faith demanded. "I would have had you scouting with the others."

"Ah," Dale Gunn nodded. "Harley's origin in Arkham is more or less world-renown. It's where she met the Joker, after all."

Faith sniffed in annoyance. "I didn't grow up learning about popular culture."

Harley giggled. "Too bad. You could stand to learn a thing or two."

Finn stepped in before any fighting could start. "Who is Sartorius?"

Harley's eyes went back to the monitor. "Dr. Alexander Sartorius. Otherwise known as Doctor Phosphorus. He had all sorts of issues. Most of which he blamed on others. Starting with getting caught in a reactor core meltdown that sent slivers of radioactive, red-hot sand into his body. His body probably had the meta-human gene because he survives, but the sand in his body was turned to phosphorus, so he literally was burned up over the whole business and tried getting revenge on those he blamed for his situation. Batman eventually nabbed him and he was shipped to Arkham. As you can imagine, a man set on perpetual fire will have lots of issues for the psych doctors to run with."

"So why'd they behead him?"

"C'mon, Slayer." Spike said, as he took another drag on his cigarette. "You know how vampires are with flames. The poor bloke must have been continually on fire. None of them could turn him so he was going to stay as whatever the hell it is that he is. Or was. A bloody human torch, and you know if he wouldn't join in whatever game Drusilla was playing, then he's be made an example of."

"Therefore the burning head on a pole," Faith murmured. She glanced back at Harley. "Anyone else you recognize?"

Harley leaned in closer making Faith feel uncomfortable. "Well, the Skeletor-looking head is Doctor Destiny. Real name Doctor John Dee. Don't know much about him. He did have the cojones to try take on the entire Justice League a couple times. He is… was the mad scientist type. You know the type. He had an anti-gravity device and some kinda will-deadener beam. But his baby was his Materioptikon which somehow could make dreams into reality. Somehow, he lost the ability to dream so in the end he went insane. Though technically anyone who'd go and make that kinda thing is already only rowing with one oar, am I right?" She giggled to herself.

"Not much more than most in Arkham," responded Faith.

Harley sniffed as if she'd been slighted. "He did somehow regain his reality altering abilities. Some of the doctors think it came and went so they kept him heavily medicated so that he can't use it if it's true."

"So they were both potential threats," Gunn pointed out. "Do you recognize any others?"

Harley squinted at the screen. "Can't really tell. They look pretty banged up. I think one is Brad. A real bastard of a guard who got his jollies tormenting the inmates. And maybe one of the kitchen cooks. But that's probably justifiable considering the slop they serve here."

"Deathstroke?" Faith called over the line.

"Yes?" came the response.

"Anything else to report?"

"… the ground is unusually dusty."

"I know that one," Spike spoke up. "Drusilla would have executed any vampires that refused to follow her. We used to do that when raising a new large group of fledgling. It'd help to keep the rest in line down the road." Seeing the dislike in Faith's eyes, he added, "It's what Angelus taught us."

"Great. Vampire charm school," murmured Riley.

"But Louie the Lilac, Pharaoh and Maxie Zeus evidently made it out before that happened," interjected Dale Gunn.

"It's probably why she had to do it," amended Spike. "So no others got a bright idea of breaking away."

"Alright, Deathstroke, let us know if you come up with anything else."

Deathstroke signed off, so the Knight took back the monitor, only to be shot in the head.

"Take cover!"

Most people fell to the ground. Spike had a bullet tear through his left arm. Hellhound lost one of his dogs. Creeper caught several bullets in the chest. Xander tackled Harley to the ground and used his body to protect her. The Trickster took refuge behind Metallo. Goldface and Blue Devil used their bodies to shield their allies.

And then it was over.

"I want someone over there now!" shouted Faith.

"Got it!" Blue Devil turned his trident over to rocket over to where the shooting began.

"Got room for one more?" Black Thorn jumped onto his back, an arm holding tightly to his chest, while her other hand had a submachine gun.

Cassidy glanced back at her. "You sure?"

She answered with a smirk.

¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯

A man in a red outfit and a gold mask eased the vent back into glace before sliding down to the secret room that was never in the Arkham building plans.

"Well, my boy?" asked one of the four people who had been waiting his return.

"Minimal fatalities and injuries. Just as you advised, professor," said the man in red as he placed his submachine gun down on the table.

The bald man nodded, his teeth bore in glee. "Excellent! Now that the waters have been bloodied, they will run straight into our adversaries, and thus, destroy them for us!"

"We should move, Strange," advised a man cloaked in green. "I have another bolt hole that should keep us farther away from the fighting."

Professor Hugo Strange nodded in agreement. "As you say, Spook. Metahumans sometimes do quite a bit of structural damage. It would do no good for us to be accidently caught in our foes battles."

The other man in green quickly spoke up. "Thirty men and only two women, but they hold the most power. Dressed in black and white, they could fight for hours. Who are they?"

"Chess pieces," answered the young man in red.

The Riddler frowned. "Very good, Anarky. Now try this one, fifty-two-"

"Hold the riddles until we are moved," butted in the Spook. "We have to do this quick and quiet like." He turned and began loosening the imperceptible handles in the wall that pulled out to reveal a hidden back door.

The sole woman in the room leaned into the Riddler. "I thought it was a great riddle."

"Thank you, Query. And now you know why I chose you over Echo. In fact, if there is more room in the new place, I might have a different riddle for you in private."

Anarky was stopped by Professor Strange. "Tell me. How do you think things will turn out between the clashing forces?"

Anarky took off his golden facemask revealing the vampire underneath. "I think they will greatly weaken each other in their fighting, making it just that much easier to overcome them."

"As long as we win in the end," agreed Strange.

¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯

Mark Shaw, the Manhunter, talked into his communicator. "Yeah, I'm near the Laundry exit. Four… possible humans. They sort of register with the human detecting device I was giving."

"What do you mean by possible humans?" asked the Knight on the other end.

"I mean they don't quite have all the characteristics of humans, but the machine recognizes some of what they are so they aren't vampires. I think…"

"Oh, well aren't, I can assure you. Well, the vote is still out on Waylon. All those sharp teeth. He could be a hybrid. You know, like a human/vampire crossbreed. Only with Waylon, it's probably a better bet that he's a vampire/crocodile crossbreed."

"Shut your hole," came a threatening growl. "Or I'll tie you in knots again."

"Don't threaten him with that, Croc," came a tired, feminine voice. "He likes it when you do that to him."

"Shut up, all of you!" spoke the wall in a hushed tone. "Some hunters are coming!"

They stayed quiet for several minutes until the wall suddenly began to melt and reshape into a form that could only be called humanoid under the roughest of terms. "All clear," said Clayface.

"Yes! We willed for another five minutes!" Ragdoll did a cartwheel, and a skip and a flip. "How long will we last? Nobody knows!"

The woman in the corner under the lamp groaned. "I take it back, Croc. Tie him up in as many knots as you want."

"Yea!" exclaimed Ragdoll.

"Knock it off!" Manhunter turned back to his call. "Like I was saying, I have four people with me. Killer Croc, Ragdoll, Poison Ivy, and-"

There was a squeal in the other end that made Manhunter pull it away from his ear. "Did someone say ' _Poison Ivy_ '?"

"I know that squeal." The greenish woman under the lamp looked up from where she sat on the floor.

Clayface face palmed himself. "Why did it have to be that nutjob?"

¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯

 **Blackgate Penitentiary**

Drusilla looked up at the wall as she traced the blood splatters on the wall. "Someone's been naughty and changing the path of events to be."

"Hmm? What was that, dear?"

"The things to be are not as they were," insisted Drusilla.

"Anyone know what she's on about now?"

"Maybe." The villain known as Cluemaster pushed past Clock King and Onomatopoeia. "You said that Drusilla is a clairvoyant. If we use that context, then she could be meaning that this plan you have been following is about to be interfered with."

'Is that true?"

Drusilla put down the severed finger she'd been using as a paintbrush. "It's all a-kilter."

"Hmm, can't have that." The man picked up the severed finger and drew a line on the wall. "So if this is good ol' Arkham." He drew a circle with a 'A' in the center. "And we are here now in bleak Blackgate." He drew another circle with a 'B' inside and connected it with a line to Arkham. "And we've already started an attack on Belle Reve." Now there was a third circle with a 'BG' and a line leading from Blackgate to Belle Reve. "But if Drusilla -and Cluemaster by interpretation- are correct, then Belle Reve could be a bust."

The man chewed on the finger for a moment. "Now what to do, what to do."

Drusilla took this to be a question for her to answer. "They change plans. We change plans."

The man clapped his hands. "Ah, now you see why I am falling for this sweet thing!" He enthusiastically drew a fourth circle with an 'IH' in the center. "Pack up your bags, kids! We are off to Keystone City! The Mad Hatter and his lot will just have to do his best at taking over Belle Reve without us!"

The Joker picked up Drusilla by the waist and twirled her around. Drusilla pulled the white-skinned, green-haired man close and sank her teeth tenderly into his neck. The Joker continued to laugh before bearing his own teeth, and biting her neck with savagery.

 **GLOSSARY**

 **Anarky / Machin, Lonnie** – He possesses a genius-level intellect, and is particularly skilled at computer hacking. Anarky is also an adept martial artist, brilliant inventor, gifted strategist, and tireless crusader against authoritarianism. He's also the Joker's unknown son.

 **Angel / Liam** – Once he was one of the evilest vampire in the world, Angel regained his soul after being cursed by gypsies for killing one of their young women, and set out to redeem himself by helping others.

 **Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane –** A prison in Gotham City where many of Batman's enemies are imprisoned for treatment.

 **Baby Boom** – One of the six genetically mutated children that formed the villain group Helix. Her mutation kept her in the form of a young toddler, while she also received the ability to explode things with her mind.

 **Batman / Wayne, Bruce –** The super-hero protector of Gotham City, a man dressed like a bat who fights against evil and strikes terror into the hearts of criminals everywhere.

 **Belle Reve** – A prison in Louisiana specially designed to incarcerate metahumans which also services as the headquarters of the Suicide Squad.

 **Blackgate Penitentiary –** A Gotham prison that houses many of the harshest criminals and Batman's villains.

 **Black, Sirius** – A pure-blood wizard with a dog Animagus form. Sirius had been framed for the murder of James and Lily Potter by Peter Pettigrew, and was imprisoned for over a decade without a trial. Then seeing a need to protect his godson, Harry Potter, he escaped. Two years later, he had gone to rescue his godson again, only to be blasted through the Veil of death by his cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange.

 **Black Thorn / Thorne, Elizabeth** – She went from rich, partying socialite to becoming a CIA agent. Deciding that she wanted her freedom, she faked her death and became a costumed vigilante. She met and fell in love with the Vigilante II. But it all fell apart when he briefly went insane and then killed himself, leaving her to pick up the pieces of her life. This led her to Amanda Waller.

 **Blue Devil / Cassidy, Daniel** – Daniel Patrick Cassidy is a special effects wizard and stuntman hired to create and play the title character in the movie _Blue Devil_. To that end Cassidy creates a full-body costume with a hidden powered exoskeleton and built-in special-effects devices. When two of his co-stars accidentally free a demon named Nebiros, Cassidy uses his costume to drive the demon back, but not before being blasted with mystical energy. After the fight, Cassidy finds that the blast has permanently grafted the Blue Devil costume to his body. Blue Devil wielded a trident of his own design which included, among other things, rocket engines capable of carrying two people at high speeds.

 **Brother Voodoo / Drumm, Jericho –** Born in Haiti, he left for the United States to become a doctor. When his brother was killed by a voodoo curse, Jericho found that his brother's spirit came to him to help him learn voodoo to avenge him.

 **Bud & Lou** – They are The Joker and Harley Quinn's two pet laughing or spotted hyenas. Their names are references to the comedy duo Abbott and Costello.

 **Carr, Lucas '** ** _Snapper_** **' –** As a teen, Snapper managed to meet and lend aid to the newly formed Justice League of America. Somehow, he convinced the superheroes to be their mascot. Later he was tricked into betraying them to the Joker. After being rejected, he turned on the Justice League to the Key. Realizing how stupid he was, he tried to straighten his life up. Then he was captured by aliens and subjected to a deadly experiment that resulted in activating his metagene that gave him the ability to teleport. Eventually, he returned to Earth and joined Checkmate as a Pawn. * _For my story, I have Snapper join Checkmate earlier than in regular continuity._

 **Checkmate** – Checkmate is a government "spy" agency with a hierarchy revolving around the pieces in the classic board game, _Chess_ , with Kings & Queens being the leaders, the Bishops oversee missions behind the scenes, the Rooks plan the missions, the Knights carry out the missions and the Pawns are the support staff. The agency was set up by Amanda "the Wall" Waller as its first Queen to serve as a branch of Task Force X, which also included the black ops organization called the Suicide Squad. The Agency was first set up by Amanda Waller to serve as a small branch of Task Force X under the command of Colonel Valentina Vostok (formerly Negative Woman of the Doom Patrol) to perform operations worldwide considered vital to the security of American interests.

 **Clayface II / Hagen, Matthew –** Matthew Hagen was a treasure hunter who made his living stealing goods and presumably fencing them. He once came across a small underwater cave where there was a small pool of special clay that Hagen fell into. The clay changed him into a being of living clay, capable of transforming into various shapes and retaining their powers. He then used his new talents as a super-villain.

 **Clem** – A Loose-Skinned demon, generally non-violent, but when attacked they will defend themselves by releasing multi-colored snake-like tentacles from beneath the skin folds of their face. This kind of demon feeds mostly on emotions, particularly embarrassment.

 **Clock King / Tockman, William –** Diagnosed with a terminal medical condition with an estimated six months to live, William Tockman embarked on a crime spree to accumulate enough money to provide for his invalid sister's future under the assumption that a lengthy jail sentence was impossible given his prognosis. Believing that "time was running out" for him, Tockman adopted the clock, as his own symbol and used his extensive knowledge of clocks, watches and other timepieces in his criminal career as the Clock King. While awaiting trial, however, Tockman discovered that he wasn't dying after all; his doctor had accidentally switched Tockman's lab reports with those of another patient. Meanwhile, his invalid sister was placed in a state nursing home (Tockman's greatest fear), where she passed away. Enraged by his sister's death, Tockman swore to get revenge against both his incompetent doctor and Green Arrow and he has escaped from prison several times over the years in order to do so.

 **Cluemaster / Brown, Arthur –** A failed game show host who turned to a life of crime, leaving trademark clues as to his actions. Cluemaster has a lot of gadgets including plasti-glass pellets attached to the front of his uniform. The pellets contain offensive weaponry including: blinding incendiary flares, smoke, incapacitating gas and explosives.

 **Coldsnap / Darryl** – Due to a lab accident, he found that he has cold powers. He became a mercenary to raise the money needed to determine how to remove his and his girlfriend's powers.

 **Creeper / Ryder, Jack** – A left-wing talk show host who is able to transform into a super-strong, super-fast healing, semi-insane maniac hero with yellow skin and green hair.

 **Deadline** – A metahuman assassin who flies around on two discs. He usually uses a sniper rifle. His skin is extremely dense making him impervious to pain. He can also phase himself and any object he touched through solid materials.

 **Deathstroke the Terminator / Wilson, Slade** – Took part in an experimental super-soldier project that gave him enhanced strength, agility and intelligence. Thus he became the world's greatest assassin/mercenary.

 **Doctor Destiny / Dee, Dr. John –** A scientist who had tried to take down several times. Then he made his Materioptikon, a device that could make dreams a reality. To stop him, the JLA made it so that Destiny could no longer dream, which drove him insane, and causing him to waste away to resemble a walking skeleton. He has since restored his reality wavering dreams from time to time, but is always overcome.

 **Doctor Double X / Ecks, Dr. Simon –** A scientist who discovered that human auras could be enhanced to function outside of the body. When he created an energy-duplicate of himself, his unstable mind was dominated by his doppelganger, and they named themselves Dr. Double X. The double would need to be recharged by the human X absorbing large amounts of electrical energy. The double could then act independently, also having super strength, fly, and fire off energy blasts.

 **Doctor Phosphorus / Sartorius, Alexander -** A crack in a reactor core causes Alex Sartorius to get "five million slivers of (radioactive) red-hot sand" into his body. Nuclear reactions caused the silicon in the sand to be booted up by one proton each, to phosphorus. Burning forever, he starts a quest for revenge against the people he blames for his terrible fate, getting into conflict with Batman on a few occasions. Doctor Phosphorus has burning skin, toxic emissions, and can manipulate radiation.

 **Drusilla –** She was the love of Spike the vampire for several hundred years, and was also Spike's sire. Before she had been turned into a vampire, she had been tormented emotionally and psychologically until she was driven insane by Angelus who was interested in her ability to see the future.

 **Finn, Riley** – A covert operative for the United States as a part of the Initiative. Also a former boyfriend of Buffy Summers.

 **Goldface / Kenyon, Keith** – After drinking down a gold-based serum, it gave him superhuman strength, invulnerability, as well as exhibit a golden glow that made him appear yellow. He decided to become a super-villain and went after the Green Lantern, and later the Flash. After years of being defeated by super-heroes, he finally just served his time in prison and reformed. He decided to follow his father's footsteps and became a union leader, rising in the ranks to lead Keystone City's largest labor force.

 **Gunn, Dale –** He was in charge of an underground bunker in Detroit that was being used by the Justice League for a time, during which he had a relationship with Zatanna. * _For my story, Dale is asked to join Checkmate where he meets and begins a relationship with Belle Haney._

 **Harley Quinn / Quinzel, Harley –** An Arkham psychiatrist who fell in love with the Joker, leading her to lose her mind. Her 'mad love' led her to freeing the Joker, following him into a life of crime. When he tossed her aside, Poison Ivy gave her a potion that enhanced her strength, speed, and agility so that she could get revenge on the Joker. Unfortunately, Harley would have and on and off relationship with the Joker.

 **Harris, Alexander '** _ **Xander**_ **'** – One of Buffy's closest friends, Xander supported her through many of her worst times, and remained at her side from the first day she arrived at Sunnydale.

 **Heatstroke / Joanne** – Due to a lab accident, she discovers that she has heat powers as well as the ability to fly. She became a mercenary to raise the money needed to determine how to remove her and her boyfriend's powers.

 **Heatwave / Rory, Mick** – During a school field trip, Mick had been locked into a slaughterhouse freezer overnight. Upon his rescue the next morning, Mick became obsessed with fire and heat. While still at a young age, he burned down his home, killing his family. He then made a heat gun and wore an asbestos protective suit, used fire to rob and kill. Eventually, Mick went straight, and took a job as a firefighting consultant.

 **Hellhound / Kai** – An assassin who is an attack-dog trainer and a skilled martial artist.

 **J.A.K.E. 2 (Jungle Automatic Killer – Experimental Number 2) / G.I. Robot** – A replacement for J.A.K.E. 1, it was created to be a fully autonomous mechanical soldier, capable of making decisions and adapting, though still needing a human handler. It is armor plated with its left arm consisting of a fully functional machine gun, mini-torpedoes, and small anti-aircraft missiles. It can even fly short distances due to small rockets in its boots.

 **Joker –** The Joker is a serial killer and a super-villain, a dangerous madman who dresses like a clown and commits violent crimes. He is often recognized as Batman's greatest enemy, living in and terrorizing Gotham City, although he spends most of his time in Arkham Asylum. In addition to being a deadly and unpredictable physical combatant, he is a brilliant and ruthless criminal mastermind. His crimes require no motivation other than his sadistic desire to show people the meaninglessness of life through pain and death, and the narcissism to see the world remade in his own image.

 **Killer Croc / Jones, Waylon –** Killer Croc is an enemy of Batman with incredible super-strength and a crocodile-like appearance. This mutation was originally a birth defect, although he becomes more reptilian over time due to genetic experimentation. Despite his brutal savagery and heightened reflexes, his animalistic mentality results in lower intelligence.

 **King, Christopher '** _ **Chris**_ **'** – He and his friend Vicki Grant found two H Dials that would transform them into previously never seen before superheroes with a wide variety of powers and abilities. Eventually, he had somehow internalized the power of the H Dial and would turn into a new hero every hour, and he sought aid at S.T.A.R. Labs.

 **Knights** – Knights are Checkmate operatives who as normal human spies with high tech, gold and black armored bodysuits and gear.

 **Lady Vic** – Descending from a line of wealthy English aristocratic mercenaries, she wields the heirlooms of her descendant's trade (Flintlock Pistols and various melee weapons) with an exceptional degree of skill.

 **Lehane, Faith / the Dark Slayer** – Shortly after Faith had become activated as a Slayer by the death of the Slayer Kendra, her Watcher was killed. She went to Sunnydale to join the other Slayer, reveling in her funny, free-spirited nature. But when she actually killed a man, mistaking him for a vampire, her childhood insecurities from various traumas flared, so she framed Buffy for the killing. Eventually, the truth came out, and Faith ended up joining the evil Mayor Wilkins with whom she formed a strange bond with. During another fight with Buffy, Faith had been put into a coma. When she awoke, Wilkins was dead, so she tried getting revenge on Buffy. Finally, Angel, tries to redeem her, so she surrenders herself to the Los Angeles Police Department.

 **Louie the Lilac –** Louie the Lilac was a mobster identified by his violet colored suit. He was known to use different lilacs, sometimes mutant breeds, to use against his enemies, such as a flower on his jacket that hypnotized people so he could manipulate them, or his special man-eating lilacs.

 **Mad Hatter / Tetch, Jervis –** an enemy of Batman who uses mind-controlling hats. He is a delusional mental patient in Arkham Asylum, obsessed with Lewis Carroll's novel _Alice in Wonderland_ and naming himself after one of the main characters.

 **Man-Bat / Langstrom, Dr. Kirk –** A scientist who specialized in the study of bats. He created a serum to give humans a bat's sonar sense and tested in on himself. The result transformed him into a hideous humanoid bat-like monster with changes in his intellect and personality.

 **Manhunter / Shaw, Mark –** a former member of the Manhunter sect on Earth, he turned on them when he learned they were androids. Shaw served time in prison and joined the Suicide Squad to reduce his sentence. He continued use of his Manhunter gear and became a bounty hunter and hunted costumed criminals for the bounty.

 **Maxie Zeus / Zeus, Maximillian –** He was originally a history teacher of Greek mythology. Somehow he lost his mind and believes that he is the incarnation of the Greek god Zeus. He believed it to be his destiny to create a new Olympus for him to rule over. In order to do that he became a crime lord in Gotham.

 **Merlyn** – A deadly bow-wielding assassin.

 **Metallo / Corben, John** – A con man who was fatally injured in a car accident, Corben was found by a cybernetic specialist Professor Emmet Vale who transferred Corben's brain into a specially designed cyborg body powered by kryptonite. Ever since, Corben has been a professional criminal.

 **Mister Bones / Director Bones** – Bones' pregnant mother was injected by an experimental mutagenic drug by an insane Dr. Love, who took the baby and five others that were similarly treated. He is super-strong, his body is invisible except for his bones, and his skin kills with a cyanide touch. He was the leader of Helix, and often fought against Infinity Inc, and once on trial was paroled into the hands of Infinity Inc. until he was forced to the kill the leader, Skyman. At some point after Infinity, Inc. disbanded, Mr. Bones became Director of a local branch of the U.S. Department of Extranormal Operations (D.E.O.), and as a D.E.O., Director Bones has had numerous interactions with the operations of the superhuman community. His left leg is a sophisticated prosthetic.

 **Onomatopoeia –** Nothing is known about the origin of Onomatopoeia. It is possible that he is from Delaware and had a brother who was killed by a masked criminal. In his secret identity he is apparently a well-adjusted and functional member of society, as he is married and has two children, none of whom are aware of his secret identity. He keeps a secret trophy case in which he displays the masks of the heroes he has killed. Onomatopoeia is an extremely skilled hand-to-hand combatant and athlete. He is a weapons expert and gifted marksman. He is very intelligent, and a skilled manipulator and liar. It is unknown whether Onomatopoeia has any superhuman powers or abilities. He is possibly superhumanly durable, given his ability to withstand unusually high levels of damage with little apparent effect, however this is unconfirmed. When in costume, he imitating sounds around him.

 **Peacemaker / Smith, Christopher** – Traumatized at an early age by seeing his father kill himself and then learning his father was in command of a Nazi concentration camp in Poland, Smith grew up seeing visions of his father speaking to him. After serving in the military, he returned to his rich family holdings. Believing he could make things better, he became Peacemaker, a one-man-army with high tech weapons. Unfortunately, he became mentally ill as he believed that his father's spirit was haunting him and that the souls of all those he could not save lived in his helmet.

 **Penguin / Cobblepot, Oswald –** He was tormented as a child for his short, stubby appearance and long nose. As a means of dealing with it he immersed himself in the study of birds. Still feeling like an outcast, he decided to begin a life of crime as the Penguin. After many run-ins with Batman, and going to prison, he decided to change the way he did things and created a socialite club called the Iceberg Lounge. From there, he managed many aspects of criminal activity in Gotham, but for the most part, kept any evidence of it from the police.

 **Pharaoh / McElroy, William Omaha –** William Omaha McElroy was a highly regarded professor of Egyptology at Yale University. One day he was at work when a student protest turned vicious, and rocks were thrown. One such rock hit McElroy, knocking him out. When he regained consciousness, he believed that he was the reincarnation of King Tuthamaken and that Gotham is the ancient city of Thebes. His ultimate goal is to claim Gotham—that is, Thebes—as his own.

 **Pied Piper / Rathaway, Hartley** – He was born deaf, but received hearing implants at a young age thanks to his rich parents. He became obsessed with sound. Soon, he discovered a form of hypnotism with music, as well as ways to use vibrations as weapons. Having become bored with his life, he became a super-villain and fought the Flash. After the second Flash died, Hartley retired from crime to become a socialist champion for the poor and underprivileged. He also came out as gay.

 **Poison Ivy / Isley, Pamela –** Poison Ivy is a super-villain and eco-terrorist with the ability to control plants, usually an antagonist to Batman. Originally she was botanist _Pamela Isley_ working underneath Professor Jason Woodrue until an accident gave her powers and turned her insane. Protecting the sanctity and supremacy of nature at all costs, she sadistically lashes out against humanity as a blight upon the planet. Frequently she teams up with her best friend and partner in crime, Harley Quinn.

Query & Echo – Diedre Vance, also known as Query, is one of the Riddler's henchwomen. She always with her partner Nina Damfino, also known as Echo. Query has blonde hair and often wears a police-like hat.

 **Question / Sage, Vic** – An investigative reporter who felt the need to go out and find answers. He wears an experimental mask that makes him look faceless. He is also a great martial artist and detective.

 **Ragdoll / Merkel Jr., Peter –** The son of the supervillain Rag Doll. was born without his family's special trait of being triple-jointed, and so could not perform the contortionist tricks his father and brother could so easily. Over the course of twelve years, he underwent hundreds of surgeries that should have killed him. He had all his joints replaced with self-lubricating and fully rotating implants. He could now contort his body to inhuman extremes. However, his skin required a special emollient to keep all his twisting from tearing his skin apart. He's also rather insane.

 **Rayne, Ethan** – a chaos-worshiping magic-wielder who loves causing trouble and often used dark magic.

 **Riddler / Nygma, Riddler –** The Riddler is a super-villain enemy of Batman who commits crimes revolving around an obsession with riddles. His mental psychosis results from a deep inner need to prove that he's smarter and therefore better than others, which causes him to leave challenging clues behind in otherwise perfect crimes. This psychological compulsion has resulted in him being repeatedly imprisoned in Arkham Asylum. Despite this obvious flaw, he is otherwise an extremely intelligent criminal mastermind.

 **Slayer** – a girl endowed with supernatural abilities and destined to battle evil creatures such as vampires and demons.

 **Spike / Pratt, William / '** _ **William the Bloody**_ **'** – An infamous vampire, Spike began to help Buffy in battle once he could no longer harm humans thanks to a microchip the Initiative put in his head.

 **Spook / Kaliban, Val –** A costumed villain and enemy to Batman. He is an expert hypnotist and escapologist, who uses theatrical effects to simulate supernatural events. These are used to enthrall his victims while he commits crimes.

Strange, Professor Hugo – One of Batman's earliest villains, preceding even the Joker and Catwoman, Dr. Hugo Strange is a brilliant but disturbed psychologist who forms an obsessive vendetta against Batman. He is also one of the few villains who have successfully deduced that the Batman's real identity is Bruce Wayne.

 **Suicide Squad / Task Force X** – A team of super-villains running missions for the government in exchange for reduced prison sentences.

 **Summers, Buffy –** She is a Slayer that was activated at the age of fifteen, endowing her with super-strength, reflexes, accelerated healing, enhanced senses, prophetic dreams and a natural proficiency with all kinds of weaponry and combat styles. She had been a normal high school student, but had to burn down a gymnasium full of vampires. Shortly after that she moved to Sunnydale, and was given guidance with a new Watcher.

 **Sumo the Samurai –** A Japanese super-villain during World War II. During the 1940s he fought against Wonder Woman and later her colleagues in the All-Star Squadron.

 **Trickster / Jesse, James** **–** James grew up as a circus acrobat. To create a more spectacular act, he managed to make shoes that could literally walk on air. Becoming greedy, he made a gaudy harlequin-ish costume, created several dangerous gimmick weapons, and found himself taken down by the Flash. After years of being defeated by the Flash, James had a change of heart and decided to turn his life around after tricking Neron and helping to save the world. Soon, he was recruited by the FBI, and was considered something of a specialist when it came to the superhero and super-villain communities, especially in regards to the Rogues.

 **Waller, Amanda '** _ **The Wall**_ **'** – She's a hardline top-ranking U.S. Government agent involved in clandestine operations. Despite her non-threatening physical appearance, she is almost universally feared as one of the most ruthless women in espionage and politics. She created and runs the Suicide Squad, and has had a hand in the development of several other government organized groups.

 **Wild Dog / Wheeler, Jack** – A former marine, he was tired of the ongoing crime, so he became a vigilante, armed with a Jatimatic GG-95 PDW submachine gun and a pair of electrified "shock gloves", his costume consists of camouflage pants, combat boots, a local college football jersey emblazoned with a snarling red dog (hiding his protective body armor), and a hockey mask to conceal his identity.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

by Ordinaryguy2

Lower Lever Corridors, Belle Reve

Floyd Lawton cursed before snatching up the walkie talkie. "Hey, Turner! Things are bottlenecked up here, and the solar challenged a-holes are starting to show up in force!"

He punctuated the end of his sentence with a bullet he fired from his wrist-mounted guns into another charging vampire. The bullet tore through the vampire's neck, shattering the former Blackgate inmate's vertebra, causing the vampire to turn to dust before hitting the floor.

" _You need to hold them off, Lawton!_ " came the Bronze Tiger's response. " _The lower levels were never meant to hold the population of all the inmates. We are working to clear space as fast as we can_."

"Yeah, I bet," Deadshot muttered while watching the hulking Mammoth tear off the head of a vampire.

" _I'm sending up some help with Murph. They'll be equipped with some of their gear we keep down here. Murph will tell you the rest. I have to deal with these idiots so things don't get out of control_."

"Send up more ammo while you are at it."

" _Already on it's way up_." There was a crashing noise in the background over the walkie talkie. " _Damn it! Gotta go!_ "

Deadshot snorted as he tossed the walkie talkie away. "Hell, I'd rather be up here shooting these dead things than down in that hole with all those prisoners itching to get their hands on their old gear."

"Bah, these things are easily destroyed. You worry needlessly," spouted the pink geletous humanoid mass that was Plasmus of the Brotherhood of Evil who holding his position nearby. The German mutate was a burning, living protoplasmic furnace that several vampires had discovered too late to do them any good before turning to ash.

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself," snapped the Icicle II, son of the first villain to go by the name Icicle. "Just remember to keep on your side of foyer." The Icicle sent out a ray of cold from his fingers at a vampire sticking his head over the barricade, freezing it solid.

"Save it for the vamps," growled Deadshot.

It wasn't really a foyer; not that Lawton planned on correcting Icicle on the matter. It was part of a series of delivery tunnels that was made in such a way that large crates or encased villains could be transported to various sections of Belle Reve without being seen above ground.

When the Bronze Tiger had originally brought them into the tunnels, they had encountered only a few vampires, most of which were quickly dispatched. Once they had barricaded off other sections of the tunnels, Bronze Tiger had opened the large freight elevator that led to the lower levels of the prison. Packing the elevator with roughly twenty bodies at a time, the number of prisoners in the tunnels started to steadily dwindle even as more vampires began to test their defenses.

Deadshot remained topside as he was the only one that Turner had any trust in. Besides himself, there were five guards with guns, the simmering Plasmus, the calculating Icicle, the mentally challenged yet very strong Mammoth, the quiet but deadly King Shark, the wall-crawling Hellgrammite, and the former Russian hero turned mercenary - the Hammer. Everyone else was trying to get on the elevators leading down to possible safety.

"How long do you think this will take?" asked Icicle.

"You got somewhere to go?" asked Deadshot.

"Just asking," he replied, as he fired another blast of ice at the head of a vampire that ducked away.

"We stay until the women get here," announced Hammer, who was wielding a fire axe he had found somewhere.

"Yeah," agreed Mammoth. "My sister's in the Women's Wing. We will hold off the vampires at least until Shimmer gets here."

"And my wife, Sickle; she is also with them," added Hammer in his thick Russian accent. He charged another vampire party that was rushing towards him. Mammoth followed after him, both roaring their anger and frustration. Hellgrammite joined the fray with glee.

Deadshot fired off another round and hit the vampire that Icicle had missed. He decided against mentioning that all communication with the Women's Wing of the prison had been lost for a while now. From what little he knew of the two hotheads, both would charge out to try find their loved one even if there was little to no hope. He needed them here. He was rather pissed that Ibac had managed to sneak on the elevator before he could be conscripted to hold the line.

"Out of my way!"

Lawton glanced back toward the elevator. It wasn't the first time that he heard people pushing and shoving at the elevator. Only this time there was something different.

Several people had come up.

A dark-haired man shoved his way passed people until he got to where Deadshot was holding the line. "Hey, Lawton. They are sorting through weapons down below. My bow and arrows were among the easiest to find. Your friend the Tiger said he'd be sending up more help when it's available."

Lawton gave the man a glance. He'd had only three conversations with Lucas while in the Belle Reve. Lucas Ludlow-Dalt was the son of a guy that had gone with the moniker Alias The Spider. Lucas' father had been the only known villain to have been able to pass himself as a superhero for an extended period of time. After his father had finally been revealed for what he was and stopped, Lucas took his father's place to get revenge, taking on his father's weapons and costume, but just using The Spider part of the name. But the annoying thing was that every time he and Lawton came together, Lucas would try to buddy up to him as if he were a fanboy or something.

"Bronze Tiger said he was sending up more ammo," responded Deadshot.

Lucas gestured back toward the elevator where several people were slowly pushing past the bodies trying to get into the elevator.

The man in the lead was adjusting a black domino mask over his eyes while holding onto a small leather bag in one arm and an army duffle bag over his shoulder.

Deadshot recognized him, too, but didn't know his real name. He was the second Red Dart. He wasn't a legacy holder like the Spider. This guy actually bought the rights to the name and the equipment from the original Red Dart. His weapon of choice was sported trick dart weapons somewhat similar to that of the Green Arrow, who he and the original Red Dart fought several times.

"You really need the mask?" Deadshot asked.

Red Dart let the duffle bag drop and swore as he adjusted his mask again. "Damn right I do. Helps to keep me focused. Usually, that is. The damn things been rolled up in a ball and has lost most of it's shape."

Lawton decided to not argue. After all, he felt an affinity towards his own headgear.

Murph, head of Belle Reve's security, came followed by a morbidly obese dark-haired man pushing a small hand truck through the crowd that automatically made more room for the massive man. It probably helped that Murph was accompanied by four armed guards who were ready for any action on the part of the prisoners.

Following after them were four prisoners that Deadshot recognized immediately. The super strong Captain Nazi was wearing his green uniform with the swastika emblem on his chest. Bolt has his black body suit on and was sparking electricity between his fingers. Javelin, a former Olympian, carried a small arsenal of collapsible high-tech javelins. The last was the African-American Crowbar who was swinging his augmented weapon back and forth both as a means of refamiliarizing himself with its weight as well as showing off.

"Lawton," Murph called out as got close to the assassin. "Got you some lead to throw."

The massive man that had been using the hand truck, set it down, and then proceeded to change shape into an incredibly thin, tall man.

"The is Yo-Yo. As you can guess he can alter his body's mass and thickness. Elongates some, too."

Deadshot glanced at the young man of oriental decent. Crowbar, Captain Nazi, Javelin and Bolt all wore explosive wrist bracelets, but not this man. "I'm guessing you injected him one of those micro-bombs to make him more complacent."

Murph sucked on his cigarette. "Yeah, the wrist bracelets would just fall off of Yo-Yo here."

Yo-Yo said nothing, but did rub the side of his neck where he'd been injected. Some of the guards converged on the supplies Yo-Yo had wheeled over, unpacking the containers, passing out clips of bullets and wooden stakes.

"Anyway, here's the scoop," Murph began. "Turner has got word from Vixen. She and the majority of the female prisoners have managed to get themselves holed up in the medical facilities."

Deadshot grunted in annoyance. "So, naturally, he wants to send out a group to help get them here."

"My sister!" Mammoth turned away from where he'd been standing guard, and stomped over to Deadshot. "I'm going with to get my sister!"

"And, me, for my wife," the Hammer growled clenching his fire axe. "I will not take ' _no_ ' for answer."

Deadshot looked at Murph in annoyance. "And I suppose I'm to lead the team."

Murph nodded. "I'll be taking your place here. But the good news is you get to pick your team. And two have already agreed to go."

"Great. Two guys volunteered for a suicide mission. That's always reassuring." Lawton muttered as he started reloading his weapons. He glanced around at his options.

"I'll go," came a call from one of the men in the group. He was a short-haired blonde man with the eyes of a fanatic.

"And who the hell are you?" asked Floyd.

"He's Ernest Franklin. Otherwise known as the Beard Hunter," Murph answered. "Goes out and kills guys in order to take their beards as a trophy. He's attacked a few guys in the shower, and tried to flay off their facial hair. He's spent a lot of time in solitaire. From what I read, he's also good with automatic weapons." He took a moment to puff on his cigarette. "Personally, I think he should have been shuttled off to Arkham instead of here."

Having worked with many inmates from Arkham, Lawton only had to look in the eyes of the Beard Hunter and agree. "I can work with him." He nodded to one of the guards. "Get a bracelet on this guy before he gets a weapon."

"You won't regret it," responded the glinty-eyed man with a wicked grin.

Lawton already was, but instead focused on his other options.

King Shark was spitting up vampire dust even as he took out his frustrations out on another vampire that he ripped in half only to be showered in more of the vile dust. The shark-man shook in fury as the blood rage began to grow in him.

"I'll skip the shark," Deadshot informed Murph. "So I'll take Plasmus and, uh-" He glanced between Spider, Javelin and the Red Dart. "Red Dart, he'd be good in tight places. I'll take Bolt, too, if you think you can spare him."

"We'll manage," Murph responded, offering Deadshot a cigarette while Bolt grumbled in the background. "In fact, take Yo-Yo off our hands. He's surprisingly good in a fight."

"Thanks for nothing," grumbled Yo-Yo. One of the guards tossed Yo-Yo a pair of wooded stakes that he caught with one hand.

"Don't take it so hard. Hell, Yo-Yo, you probably have the best chance at getting back in one piece with your abilities."

"Hey, what about me?" Icicle finished reforming a barricade to slow down some of the vampires, then stormed over. "My fiancée was in the Women's Wing when this all went down. So I'm going with all of you."

Deadshot grunted. After years of working with the likes of Boomerang, Deadshot knew it was always better to have willing fighters. "Fine, I'll swap Bolt for Icicle." Murph nodded in agreement.

Bolt gave a sigh of relief and went to go blast away his nervous energies at one of the vampires breaking through the ice barricade.

Murph looked back at the crowd waiting to get on the next elevator. "Just a minute."

He walked to the crowd, grabbed one inmate by the back of his shirt collar, and dragged the startled man to over where Deadshot was.

"Deadshot, you remember Punch, don't you?"

Deadshot took a drag on his cigarette. "Yeah, we've done a few missions in the squad. So?"

Murph shot him an annoyed look. "So his wife, Jewelee, should also be with Vixen and the other ladies."

"How's that my fault?" Punch whined. "We asked for adjoining cells, but the warden has been refusing to receive any more of our correspondence about the subject."

"You should be raring to go rescue your lady like Hammer and Mammoth!" barked Murph.

"And then she and I would both be facing almost certain death? How is that a good thing?"

"The fool's rather puny and he doesn't have his gear," pointed out Deadshot as he casually watched Javelin use one of his namesake weapons to shish kabob three vampires before it exploding, dusting the vampires as well.

"See! I'm too puny to go!" agreed the short, thin, auburn-haired man with a grin. "Well, I have an elevator to catch." He tried to pull away, but Murph held on tight to his collar.

"He will come," asserted the Hammer with his thick Russian accent, who clamped a powerful hand onto Punch's shoulder.

"I will?" Punch asked with a bit of fear.

"Da! Because if you do not, I will be removing your head from the rest of your body."

"Er, no, I really think I'm short enough already." He glanced around. "I don't suppose anyone has a weapon I can use?"

The trace of a smile formed on Murph's face. "Actually, I have just the right thing for you."

The Head of Security dug through the duffle bag that the Red Dart had brought up with him. "Here we go." Having removed an object from the bag, he turned and tossed it to Punch.

"Hey, watch it!" The small man easily the colorful weapon, and was only momentarily glad it wasn't something dangerous. "What's the big idea giving me this water gun?"

Murph snorted in annoyance, snatched the neon green water gun from the fool. "This is a highly pressurized water gun," he explained, then turning toward the fighting, he took aim on a fastmoving, leaping vampire that cleared the barricade in a single bound. Hellgrammite was instantly on it's tail, scampering across the ceiling with frightening speed.

"I got it!" Murph called out before Deadshot or anyone else could shoot it down. Hellgrammite gave no heed to the call, and continued after his prey.

A stream of water shot out and hit the vampire in the strange orange outfit on the left side of his body. Before the vampire even touched the ground, it was already crying out in pain as smoke rose from his blistering body.

Before anyone else could get another bead on it, the strange villain leapt off the floor, and into Captain Nazi, sending the German racist rolling backwards into others. Crowbar was near enough to swung his weapon and managed to knock off the fast-moving vampire's left gauntlet before being backhanded and sent crashing onto Captain Nazi. The vampire then leapt toward the wall to avoid another shot from Murph's liquid weapon, and then rebounded back toward the barricade it had come from.

Hellgrammite's mandibles stretched wide as the mutated entomologist leapt at the jumping villain, but only a moment too late.

A small red object struck the vampire right in the neck before igniting into a large fireball. The vampire immediately began to thrash about even as it hit the floor than within seconds burst into dust. The Hellgrammite could only stare at the place his prey had been in frustrated disappointment.

"I'm taking the bug guy, too," Floyd informed Murph. "He'd be good in tight areas." Deadshot took the opportunity to fire at several other vampires that had been about to use the distraction as an opportunity to attack.

"Who was that vampire?" asked Yo-Yo. "He had a costume, but not one I recognize."

Deadshot scanned the area. "A small-time idiot by the name of the Human Flea. Not that it matters now." He then glanced over his shoulder at the Red Dart. "That was a good throw."

Red Dart was busy readjusting his mask again. "Just thought he could prove problematic if left to bounce all over." Letting his mask be for the moment, he began organizing his specialized darts in his right hip pouch.

Punch gleefully yanked the water gun from out of Murph's hands. "I've always wanted an acid gun! Jewelee will be so jealous!"

"It's just a water gun, you idiot."

Punch turned and aimed the water gun at the prison guard. "Hey! Words can hurt; and so can acid, douchebag!"

Murph eyed the little man. "Do you really think I'd give a sociopath a gun that shoots acid?"

Punch frowned as he considered his options. "Is this a trick question?"

"Do the words ' _holy water_ ' and ' _vampire_ ' mean anything to you?"

Punch thought about it even as he watched Crowbar chop an unfortunate vampire in half with his glowing metal weapon. Spider had slain several of the monsters of the night with an arrow through each of their hearts.

"Huh? So you mean I'm supposed to believe you keep a supply of holy water down in the basement of this hellhole in the very unlikely hood that vampires attack?"

Murph spat out his cigarette. "Father Craemer is downstairs, and he blessed the water. Evidently holy water works." He grabbed the muzzle of the water gun pushed it down to the floor. "Now if you ever aim another weapon at me, whether it is considered a toy or not, I'll shoot your pecker off. You got it?"

Punch gulped and nodded.

"But _if_ you behave and survive, when this is all over I will lock you in solitary confinement for two weeks."

"Not much in the way of positive reinforcement," Punch muttered.

"I'm more of a carrot and stick kind of guy. So, if you do as Deadshot says, then I'll let Jewelee stay there in solitaire with you the whole time."

The thin man's face brightened.

"But if you foul things up, or make a break for it, your solitary confinement roommate will either be Captain Nazi or King Shark."

"Let it be the Shark," growled Captain Nazi, as he passed by them on his way to take out his aggression on the vampires. "I would not tolerate the fool for very long. At least the Shark would use him as a meal."

"Looks more like an appetizer," said King Shark, looking hungrily at Punch. "Can I have his girlfriend, too?"

"Maybe we should get going?" Punch suggested, not liking the way things were turning.

The Spider came over holding something. "Hey, Crowbar knocked this off that jumping guy."

"The Human Flea," Deadshot commented. He looked at the orange gauntlet that Spider was holding. "So what? You want a souvenir? I can already tell you that Waller won't let you keep it."

The Spider shook his head. "Uh, no. I just noticed that when this Flea guy turned to ash, his entire armored costume did, too."

"Is there a point to this?" asked Murph.

"Uh, yeah." The Spider looked between the two men. He wanted to confide to Deadshot, but at the same time, he didn't want to give his idea to Murph who was head of security. But things were dire so he would have to go against his natural inclinations. "Obviously some of these vampires were once super-villains, so some of them are going to have weapons or armor. If we can get those weapons and armor off of them before they are destroyed, then someone on our side can use those weapons to fight against more of the vampires."

"Hmm, sounds good in theory," muttered Murph.

"No plan survives the battlefield," added Deadshot. "We should try it as long as it isn't too risky."

Murph nodded. "I'll pass the idea along and see what we can arrange." He held his hand out for the gauntlet, which the Spider reluctantly handed over.

"I better be going," Deadshot said. Yo-Yo had already taken another bag of wooden stakes from the stack of supplies.

"There's a service tunnel that will take you passed most of these nightmares," Murph said, pointing to an area on a map he'd taken out of his pocket.

"Hmm, yeah. That should do pretty good. Once we get out, we would be about a thousand yards from the medical facilities."

They paused as Bolt created a lightshow as he electrocuted more attacking demons trying to get through the barriers.

"What's the plan if we make it back?"

Murph shrugged. "I don't know if Turner has gotten that far."

"Turner's calling all the shots instead of the warden, isn't he?"

Murph nodded to the assassin. "Economos may be the warden, but Bronze Tiger is a better expert at overcoming super powered attackers."

"Right then." Deadshot gave Murph a nod. "See you if I make it back."

"Buy you a beer when you do. Hell, I'll make it a keg if you bring back the ladies."

"You're on," the assassin gave one of his rare grins.

Within five minutes, he and his team were hustling down the service tunnel with his new team.

¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`

 **Research & Development Level**

 **The Vault**

Bronze Tiger was having his own problems down on the Research & Development Level underneath Belle Reve. It was where the scientists reverse engineered the weapons used by so many super-villains. It was a slow process, and it sometime resulted in explosions that killed the scientists and destroyed whatever it was they were trying to study.

Now it was becoming a shelter from the vampires who wanted to create vampires out of all of them. Most of the villains that had made it down there were outside the main Vault which Ben Turner had only allowed a few to enter. Those given entrance were among the super-genius inventors who he put to work on restoring many of the technological weapons that had been taken apart.

The equipment that had not been taken apart were being drug out of storage and returned to the villain it belonged to as long as they had either an explosive cuff or a nano-bomb implanted in their neck.

Even so, Ben Turner wasn't really surprised when there was an explosion inside the Vault.

He stepped over the fallen I.Q. and passed the growling gorilla Monsieur Mallah who clutched protectively to the canister that held his creator, the disembodied Brain.

Amos Fortune, a fat man who relied on luck, was coughing fitfully from smoke inhalation while standing in front of a burning men.

Ben cursed as he and another guard grabbed fire extinguishers to put out the flames.

"What the hell happened?" Bronze Tiger yelled at Prof. Fortune.

"Angle Man." He coughed some while trying to wipe some of the grime that now decorated his white uniform that he had found in his sealed storage bin. "He found his angle device. He was trying to use it to open a nexus to a city to escape to. Instead, his device exploded."

Now that the flames were gone, Turner could see the disfigured remains of the Angle Man for himself. "Idiot. He was trying to bypass the dome. The dome over us must be more powerful than we thought." He motioned for the guard to have the body cleared away.

"Be careful with what you a working on. We don't know how it will react with the dome. The dome evidently can retaliate in some ways."

The mutated, malformed body of Professor Anthony Ivo was hunched over the body of one of the androids that were being kept for examination. "We understand that more than you do, _hero_."

"I'm trying to keep people safe," Ben snarled back. "The more of us that can fight, the more of us will survive." The Bronze Tiger's walkie talkie squawked, causing him to walk away so he could hear it better.

Ivo sniffed disdainly as he returned to the inner workings of the android called the Super Duper. "I can't believe I have to work on this piece of garbage. It's just a cheap copy of my Amazo android. I'm surprised the creator of this thing even got it working. Probably got help from the Monitor I've been hearing about. But even so, this is so insulting."

"Your Amazo isn't here," came the withering voice of General Immortus. "So, if you can't get this thing up and running, I suggest you go work on something else."

Ivo growled his irritation. "I can get it working. At least mostly working. This thing is supposed to be able to mimic some of the early Justice Leaguers. It won't have the abilities of the Green Lantern anymore, but it can fly like Hawkman, fight like Batman, be as strong as Wonder Woman, and some of the reflexes of the Flash."

"How long till you get it running?" inquired the several millennia old man who was fondling the hair of the robot to which Ivo just snorted in annoyance.

"It's very life-like," stated the young man assisting Professor Ivo. "I made some similar to this." He stroked the cheek of the android's head which resembled Wonder Woman herself. "My eyes were more realistic, but I could never quite come up with skin material this soft, and yet so tough. I wonder what material he used?"

"Focus, Mears!" snapped Ivo. "There's much more to making an android than nice eyes and a skin outer coating! Now focus on handing me my tools!"

Warren Mears nodded meekly. There was so much he hoped to learn from this great man, he was willing to take any abuse he was dealt.

Warren and his two underlings, Andrew Wells and Jonathan Levinson, had fled from Sunnydale, California, when they realized they were no match for the slayer. Pooling their great ideas, they created a series of gadgets and costumes and decided to try their luck as costumed super-villains, robbing banks and museums. They scored big in Portland, Seattle, Denver, Minneapolis, Midway City, Hub City, and St. Louis. They'd been lucky in Central City due to the Flash being away in another dimension when they robbed the Flash Museum. It had been Warren's idea to pilfer some of the Rogue' tech that was on display only to discover that most of it was facsimiles or were just the outer casing of a tech gutted shell. Frustrated, then they decided to try their luck in Opal City where Andrew talked them into robbing an antique and collectibles store called 'Knights Past' that was truly amazing. After casing the place, the others more than agreed that it was worth their effort and thought there would be no problem.

They had no idea that Starman would be that vigilant in the city. Andrew had been reduced to tears at having been arrested while Jonathan seemed to go catatonic. Warren, however, had already been planning to go back and take down Starman. And in his inevitable victory he would lay claim to that incredible piece of machinery, the cosmic rod, which he would study and remodel to make an even better weapon. He was even thinking of taking on the name – Starlord!

"Mears! Damnit! Hand me a Number 4 sprocket already!" Ivo shouted snapping Warren from his reflections and daydreams. General Immortus chuckled in amusement before wandering away.

"Sorry, sir." Warren quickly handed over the requested item. Seeing Andrew walking passed, he reached out and grabbed him, nearly causing his friend to drop the heavy container he was carrying.

"Hey, I need a word with you."

"Uh, but I'm supposed to take the approved gear to the entrance so our fighters will be armed."

Warren looked at the gear inside, giving it a critical eye. "Whose is this?" he said, reaching in to examine the golden helmet.

"It belongs to Victor Bragg a.k.a. the Human Flying Fish."

"Seriously?" Warren gave an incredulous look. "Someone is really using that name?"

"Sure, he's an Aquaman foe."

Warren rolled his eyes. "That's not saying much."

"Dude, Aquaman's a lot tougher than most people think." Andrew shifted the box in his arms with a grunt.

"Outta-the-way! Outta-the-way!"

Andrew barely managed to avoid the collision that would have hit him from behind. Warren, had been in the clear, but when he realized that the speaker was the third part of their trio, he snagged him by the elbow.

"Just the other guy I wanted to see."

Jonathan Levinson would have fallen if Warren hadn't helped, even if it was mostly to keep from having the box dropped on his foot.

"Damn, this is heavy," Warren grunted. "What's in here?"

Jonathan was working on catching his breath as he looked to see who had stopped him. "It's Scoopshovel's scoop shovel arm."

"Scoopshovel?"

"Oh! I know!" piped Andrew. "He's in the Demolition Team. It's not a big-name team, but they've fought some major players here and there."

Warren let it pass as it was not something he was interested in at the moment. "Listen, you two. We have an opportunity here. We're rubbing elbows with legends here. Plus, we've been given access to dozens of weapons made with incredible technology."

"Can you be quick," Jonathan said with some pain. "This thing is still heavy."

Keeping his voice low, Warren leaned in to his to compatriots. "I want you two, as you are getting these personal belongings boxes sorted, to see if you can come across some weapons we can use. Something powerful that we could use to get us out of here. Something we could use to make a name for ourselves."

"Dude." Andrew gave a pained expression. "The guards may be few, but they are like hyper focused right now. Besides, do you really want to have someone like Scoopshovel pissed at you because you stole his arm weapon? Remember, he and his friend Steamroller keep making lude remarks at you in the shower?"

Warren blanched. Communal prison showers were worse than high school by far. "I don't want Scoopshovel's arm! I'd barely be able to lift the thing!" he snapped as he looked at the yellow-painted metal appendage. "Get that thing out of here." He felt a shiver go down his spine, but quickly realigned his thoughts. "I want you two to find something really impressive that we can use. Something-"

"Mears! You lazy fool!" snapped Prof. Ivo. "Stop jabbering at those idiots and get over here! I need a Type 9 power hinge adapter immediately!"

Warren grimaced. "Just do what I said," he said in a hushed whisper while shoving the heavy container to Jonathan before turning around to go play lab assistant to the greatest android expert in the world. "I have to learn some things from Ivo while I can."

"This isn't going to end well, is it?" Jonathan turned and asked Andrew.

"Never seems to," Andrew admitted. "But it's the journey leading up to it that is the fun part, right?"

Jonathan grunted and began to hurry toward the entrance so he could free himself of the weight he was hefting around.

Baron Bug threw his tools in the work table he was using. "What the hell was he thinking when he designed this?"

"What is it now?" asked the man working at the next table.

"It's these damn insect-bots of that idiot – the Bug-Eyed Bandit! There was so much more he could have done with them. Instead it's like he was trying to slap them together as fast as he could. What happened taking pride in your workmanship?"

Ira Quimby, known to the world at large as I.Q., tutted. "Let me guess, poor soldering skills?"

"That and using cheap material," the Baron Bug grumbled. "My creations are far superior to these things."

"Yeah, but yours aren't here and these are," commented I.Q. "The real question is can your genius make these things work?"

"Of course I can!" the short, nerdy man proclaimed. "They may not be masterpieces when I am finished with them, but they will be effectively deadly. And when I do get out of this prison, I plan to spit on the Bug-Eyed Bandit's grave for such shoddy workmanship!"

I.Q. smirk as if in agreement and turned back to his own project. He'd been fortunate to get ahold of the android called the Duke of Oil. Doctor Cyclops had tried to commandeer the project from him, but Ira gave him a black eye for not backing off. Now Ira sat shirtless, soaking in light from some solar light projectors that one of the appointed intern geeks named Jonathan had found for him, so that the simulated light would kick start his super brain.

He'd already surmised that whoever had been reverse-engineering the robot had already put part of it back together, at least that is what he surmised by spotting the obvious errors that had been made. He wished there was some paperwork of the repairs that had been made. The guards refused to allow the prisoners near the computers, which was pretty astute of them considering the lineup they had going on down here. It was almost like an evil scientist convention was going on.

He looked over at some cursing coming from Professor Amos Fortune who was working on one of his Royal Flush flying card platform with a H.I.V.E. scientist lending a hand. Two other H.I.V.E. scientists were pulling open the chest cavity of the Ace of Spades, the android that played the strongman for the Royal Flush Gang. Meanwhile, another mad scientist by the name of Professor Killgrave was gleefully piecing together the helmet of the Black Manta while humming the theme song from ' _Weird Science_ '. Thaddeus Sivana, Jr., son of the infamous mad scientist Thaddeus Sivana, was gleefully waist deep in the mechanical innards of the green armored suit of the Arsenal that had once been used by Nicholas Galtry to try get revenge on Beast Boy for exposing him as a fraudster trying to steal the boy's inheritance. Doctor Cyclops was reattaching pieces to a mechanical trident weapon with what appeared to be some annoyance. A long-haired, skinny geek who called himself the Mighty Bruce was piecing together a strange looking weapon that evidently fired red hot metal rivets. Off in a more secluded corner, the gorilla Monsieur Mallah whispered in French to the disembodied brain cocooned in a white metallic tube. The ape had the badly damaged android of Lord Havok on one work table and was cannibalizing the remains of a badly wrecked Manhunter unit on another.

Chuckling to himself, Ira shook his head as he returned to his task. Ah, this was the life.

Ben Turner, the skilled martial artist assassin known as The Bronze Tiger, stood in front of the Vault entrance staring down the mod of villains demanding entry in order to arm themselves with weapons, preferably with the ones that they had on them when they were arrested. But with a horde of vampires threatening to rain down on them, any weapon they could get would be welcome.

"I've already told you I'm not letting you inside. All that would do would cause chaos and a potential for injuries and death." His tone left no room for compromise. The three armed guards on either side of him helped to strengthening his position. It helped that the long-haired John Henry Martin, who sometimes went by the alias Outlaw, was holding the groaning Neo-Nazi Iron Cross pinned to the crushed concrete three yards away.

The large opening was already filled with several hundred inmates which all seemed to separate into three main groups. There were the white supremists toward the right, in the lead of the group of mostly skin-headed Caucasians was Killer Shark II, Captain Swastika, Slingshot, Baron Gestapo, Sportsmaster II, Dr. Caligan, Cutlass Charlie and the full-body tattooed Swastika.

The angry hoods were mostly black and Hispanic, and some wanna-be white gangsta rappers. At the forefront was Black Manta, Ebon, Holocaust, Trident, Afterthought, Manticore, and tentacle-headed, red skinned Bloodletter.

In the middle of the room was the majority of the prisoners who didn't want any part of the two hate groups. The front row of villains was Cannon, Saber, Mad Dog, Outlaw, Jackhammer, Steamroller, Scoopshovel, Hardhat, Blade Master, Number 1, the Crumbler, and Human Flying Fish.

"We need our weapons!" came the demanding cry from the Trident who was among the hoods. Several men along with Gunshot and Holocaust shouted their agreement

"Many of them are being put together as we speak," reassured the Bronze Tiger.

"Yeah, but then what about the weapons of those that couldn't be taken apart?" called out the assassin Cannon. "I need my blades, dog!" More people agreed their affirmation, including his boyfriend, Saber.

"They are being unlocked from where they were being kept," explained Turner. "Our first priority was getting the scientists busy working on the hi-tech weaponry."

"Likely story." From the side wall, the powerhouse villain, Ibac, pulled himself out of the human-sized indention he had made in the metal wall when Outlaw had bashed him into it. "I'm still going to have to insist on seeing for myself. We are not the type to trust our jailers." He stopped to yank out his left foot which had been still stuck in the wall, leaving left his shoe still in the wall. "Damn, I just got those. And they had actually fit properly for once."

"We all need to see where our stuff is kept!" growled Ebon, as he pushed forward.

"I say we take them now!" growled Holocaust, and received several shouts of agreement.

"Are you forgetting the bombs many of you have embedded in your head? Or strapped on your wrists?" Bronze Tiger shouted out to be heard.

Already, Manticore, a radical from Quarac that was surgically altered to be a member of the terrorist organization Jihad, launched himself at the guards only to be knocked back by two shotgun blasts to the chest. Fortunately for Manticore, his sub-dermal body armor absorbed the hits, leaving the feral man winded and sore.

Another of the guards was concentrating on head shots at Ibac that only slowed the invulnerable villain down. Deciding to take a chance, the guard fired two quick rounds between Ibac's legs. The shocked look and abrupt collapse of Ibac let everyone know he could feel some things.

One of the Madmen was also wounded along with several others. Black Manta had the foresight to duck behind the red-skinned invulnerable Bloodletter who charged at Bronze Tiger only to be have his momentum used against him with a martial arts move that tossed him right back to where he had been. Also, right on top of Black Manta.

A powerful black man with shoulder length dreadlocks calling himself Holocaust began gathering fire in his hands as he stomped forward, heedless to the bullets bouncing off of him. "I'm going to burn you alive, Tiger! Then we will get our gear and get the hell out of here!"

The Bronze Tiger tapped a button on his belt as he stared down the thug boasting about killing him.

Holocaust never knew what happened when his head seemed to suddenly expand to three its size, popping out both eyeballs and most of his tongue, before suddenly deflating.

Everything ceased as the smoking body of Holocaust began to fall to the floor.

"What the hell?" cried out Ebon. "He's supposed to be invulnerable!"

Bronze Tiger let out a sigh of relief. Looking up at the mass of uncertain villains, he knew he had to address them now before they tried something else that was stupid. "And now we have the answer to what several of those nanite-bombs we put inside many of you goes off inside an invulnerable body."

Several of those who had some level of invulnerability now began to back off, leaving Holocaust's body where it lay leaking blood everywhere.

"Tiger!" called a man from the door of the Vault. "I am ready."

"Right," acknowledged Turner. "Men, fall back to the Vault. Outlaw, come with me."

"Just a sec." The muscular, longhaired man got to his feet, pulling Iron Cross up with him. Then with a mighty shove, he sent him hurtling through the air into Ibac who had just been getting up again.

The guards kept the convicts covered as they backed into the Vault. As the last few entered, followed by Bronze Tiger and Outlaw, Turner nodded his go-ahead to the dark-skinned man in the unusual red and white outfit.

Jean-Louis Droo was raised in Haiti, but moved to America and because a computer scientist. Later, returning to help his father, who's health was failing, he became desperate to help him when modern medicine proved to ineffective. But when voodoo somehow cured him, Jean-Louis became determined to understand how that was possible. He soon became a fanatic as he mastered the mysteries of the craft, and then somehow managed to merge voodoo with modern computer science and took on the name of Houngan. Finding himself with no peers, he soon became known as a super-villain, and was approached by the criminal mastermind known as the Brain and his modified gorilla companion Mallah to become a member of their Brotherhood of Evil.

Once they were across the Vault threshold, Houngan slashed his thumb with a knife and pressed the bloody wound against one of the glyphs he had drawn on the Vault doorframe in chalk. The doorway briefly lite up with a yellow light before fading away. A second later, a rushing Ibac bounced off an invisible barrier that now covered the doorway.

The other convicts now also rushed forward, stopping short of the doorway, all shouting.

Turner took one of the guards' guns and fired two rounds into the ceiling to get everyone's attention. "Listen up, convicts! I stand by what I said earlier! The scientists are working to piece together your weapons! Having all of you rush in and tear the place apart would only put us more at risk!"

"You had no right to take apart my equipment!" shouted Number 1, otherwise known as Arthur Pemberton, leader of the Strike Force, and nephew of the original Star-Spangled Kid. "I will sue everyone who had a hand in it!"

The Bronze Tiger let out a growl. "Everything has to be taken apart to certain degrees, convict, so we can be assured no explosive devices will go off. Think of it as a protective measure that we have to do to ensure you and everyone else do not suddenly burst into flames inside your cells."

The older man turned away from the hero, trying and failing to hide his nervous reaction.

"I am a scientist!" bellowed Baron Gestapo as he stepped forward. "Yet I was not allowed entry!"

The Bronze Tiger replied with a stony glare. "I'm not letting a Nazi in here. Especially not one with your murderous reputation. It's difficult enough allowing the Brain and Mallah in here even with the precautions we've taken. Besides, some of the other scientists refused to work with the likes of you. Not that I blame them."

"Black dog! You will rue the day you impeded me! You will suffer greatly when I skin you ali _EEEEE!_ " Baron Gestapo collapsed shrieking onto the floor while those around him took several steps back.

Houngan chuckled as he continued to press his electronic needle-stylus to a computerized voodoo doll. "You are a fool to be throwing such petty threats around when there are true devils out for our blood."

When Houngan removed the stylus from the voodoo doll, Baron Gestapo collapsed into a heaving mess.

Houngan stepped into the doorway staring down those that glared back at him, only Ibac refusing to back down. Houngan met his glare, then brought up his voodoo doll towards Ibac, stabbing the voodoo doll viciously in the inner thigh of the leg with his stylus. Ibac screeched like a stuck pig as he fell to the floor writhing in pain. Most thought the big man was bleeding when they noticed the wetness on his leg. Only later did they realize that it was urine.

Hougan released Ibac from the pain he was inflicting him with, and now showed his pearly white teeth in a wide grin. "Now that I have all of your attention, I will tell you a story. Several years ago back in Haiti," began Houngan, his cold tone reaching even to the back of the crowd. "Blood drained bodies began to appear night after night. The leaders of the community sought several voodoo experts to stop these attacks. Eight masters and myself went to the graveyard where the attacks seemed to be centered. There we learned that the blood hunting creatures truly were vampires and not some new cult, and the fight we had was very costly. I and another master were all that survived, and he would be crippled for the rest of his life."

"How many vampires did you face?" asked Black Manta.

Houngan regarded him for a moment. "Five. And three of those were fledglings only weeks old."

"Sounds like you were not up to the task," sneered Swastika.

Houngan spat at him. "You are a fool! One of those masters I went with was one of the greatest voodoo practitioners in two centuries. And that fiend, William the Bloody, was still able to tear out his tongue and give his intestines to his harlot, Drusilla, to use for a skipping rope and make balloon animals." He glared at all the convicts on the other side of the barrier. "You think you are all very bad and dangerous. And to the mortal world you are. But those things tearing their way in to this fresh slice of hades are a brand of evil you cannot bear to be near. And it will consume you if we do not stand together."

A blond man among the white supremists raised his hand to speak. Not being struck down right away, he began to speak. "Some of you may not know me. The name I claim is Captain Swastika." He paused for the jeers that erupted mainly from the hoods, which he basically ignored, but waited to quiet down. "As a member of the Fourth Reich, I have worked alongside Count Berlin, who is a vampire. I don't know how old he is, but he did fight on the side of the Nazis during WWII." He swallowed nervously. "The things I have seen him do… are the things of nightmares. The only reason the rest of us on the Fourth Reich even felt safe around him was because of a magically binding oath he gave stating he would never inflict harm on any of us as long as we never attacked him or left the team. If we did leave…" He gave another shudder.

Swastika as well as the others jumped when the elevator dinged, signaling roughly another dozen men escaping from above.

"Damn it, man!" shouted Trident, who was one of the first to recover. "We really need our weapons!"

"Many of us just use blades," called out the Blade Master. "Surely those would be easy to get to. One of the surest ways of killing a vampire at to cut off it's head. Just give us the means to do so!" Several people, including Cannon, Captain Swastika and Cutlass Charlie made a loud outcry of their agreement.

Bronze Tiger gave a slight nod. "I agree. I'll see what the holdup is."

"Uh, excuse me, sir."

The Bronze Tiger glanced back at the skinny, geeky, young man that was carrying a large container that was almost too big for him. He recognized him as being one of those that he'd allowed to assist the mad scientists. "What is it?"

"Uh, well, this box, it has the belongs of Victor Bragg. Um, it contains his Human Flying Fish costume."

"It's a uniform!" shouted a man who was evidently Victor Bragg. He pushed passed a few men to get to the Vault entrance, making sure to give Ibac plenty of room as he circled around him.

"Uh, yes sir. That's what I meant to say," Andrew said apologetically. He stepped forward only to be stopped by Houngan.

"You cross that barrier, and you will not be able to come back in here," stated the voodoo practitioner coldly.

"How do I get my stuff then?" Bragg said with more whine in his voice than he meant.

Houngan shared a glance with Bronze Tiger, then turned to the nearest of the guards.

Using an old potato that had been sliced in half and then carved into rune marking, Houngan dipped it into a thick, dark liquid he had in a small jar. Then he pressed the rune into the guard's arm, which stung for a moment.

"Now you," he said to the guard, "can cross back and forth across the barrier. And the mark will only work for your life force, so none of the prisoners can take it from you to use themselves. And if you do become a vampire, you will no longer be alive, so will no longer be able to cross the barrier."

The guard looked like he wanted to protest, but a look from Turner made him resort to silence instead as he took the container from Andrew and went to deliver it the a very eager Victor Bragg.

"So your liquid marker," Andrew said, surprising everyone as the young man pointed toward Houngan's jar of liquid. "Is it a combination of zombie dust, papaya juice, kraken ink, and hemp juice mixed with a bit of your own urine? Or do you have a different recipe?"

Houngan stared in surprise. Most people wouldn't even speak to him if they didn't have to. He was a bare-chested, muscular black man wearing a large white skull cap that covered most of his head. Connected over his nose was mounted a yellow metal bar that went straight up four inches before separating into two curved horns. Behind his head was a plumage of red, like for the sun or a halo. Overall, the effect was threatening one that made his enemies both fearful and uncomfortable. And yet this young man did not even bat an eye.

"I prefer avocado juice instead of papaya for an activating ingredient, but yes." Houngan evaluated the young, geeky man. "Who are you, boy? You are a practitioner?"

Andrew shrugged. "I'm Andrew. And I'm more of a dabbler. But I try to take my studies serious."

"Who was your teacher?" asked the Haitian, wondering how this man had been able to identify so many of his key ingredients.

"Self-taught. But I did grow up learning the craft in Sunnydale, California," he said as if that mattered.

Houngan was now more surprised. "The Hellmouth?" He glanced over at the Bronze Tiger but he was already talking to someone named Father Craemer on his walkie talkie.

Andrew shrugged. "It was home. And you tended to pick up a few things if you were going to survive."

The Haitian considered the young man carefully. He'd learned early that one's outward appearance could be very deceiving. Especially with those that used magic. "What accomplishments have you made?"

Andrew scratched the back of his head. "Well, I did summons a flock of flying demon monkeys and set them after everyone at our high school play. Is that the kind of thing you mean?"

Houngan now turned back to the Bronze Tiger who had just finished his conversation on the walkie talkie. "I would like to take this one as an assistant."

Bronze Tiger glanced at Andrew, then back at Houngan. "You're joking, right?"

"Do I look like I make many jokes?" Houngan said tautly.

Turner glared back at him. He didn't like this sadist who dabbled in forbidden things. It rankled him to have to work with him in any fashion. And Turner had worked with some of the worst there ever was. "Fine," growled Turner. "Just try not to kill him."

Andrew lit up. "Does this mean I'm now your apprentice? I always wanted to be someone's _dark apprentice_."

"Coming through!"

Jonathan Levinson nearly collided with Andrew when one of the guards intercepted him and took the box.

"What's this?" asked the guard.

"Scoopshovel's scoop shovel arm!" Jonathan gasped, as he tried to move his pained arms.

"Who's what now?"

"Hey, that's mine!" called out a burly man on the other side of the barrier. "Gimmie that!"

The guard reluctantly let Houngan put the mark on his arm, before taking the container through to the member of the Demolition Team who was waiting for it.

"All this hauling stuff around it going to be the death of me," Jonathan groaned while wiggling the kinks out of his fingers.

"Why don't you use the pallet-jacks?"

Jonathan glanced up and stared at the Bronze Tiger. "There's pallet-jacks?"

"Dude!" Andrew exclaimed excitedly. "Guess what?"

"There's pallet jacks," Jonathan grumbled while massaging his sore fingers.

"Yeah, I heard. But, no! I'm going to be someone's _dark apprentice_!" He let out a high-pitched squeal of delight that raised more than a few eyebrows in those standing around.

"On a trial basis," Houngan amended, now wondering if he could stand to put up with the young man for long without torturing him to death.

Andrew didn't let that faze him. "It's like my number one dream job!" He grabbed ahold of Jonathan's shoulder. "We really have to decide on our super-villain names now! Not the practice ones we used."

Jonathan groaned and shook his head. Then glanced up at Houngan. "Can I borrow your apprentice to help me find the pallet-jacks so we can haul more super-villain gear to their owners?"

"For now, yes. But I will need to have a long conversation with Andrew later so I can know where his strengths lie."

"Yeah, I get that." Jonathan quickly left to ask one of the guards where he could find a pallet-jack. The super-strong Outlaw volunteered to help him in moving some of the heavier boxes. In actuality, Outlaw just wanted to get away from Houngan as he creeped him out.

"Hey, uh, master?" Andrew began. "I just had a thought."

Houngan was beginning to regret this impromptu apprentice idea. "What is it?"

"Well, my friend Jonathan," he nodded to where Jonathan was disappeared among the aisles of shelving. "He's an ok sorcerer. He's pulled off some series mojo, but could use a knowledgeable teacher, too. Do you think you could maybe take him on as an apprentice as well? Or maybe he could work for one of your collegues?"

"He also grew up on the Hellmouth?"

"Almost as long as me," Andrew grinned. "We even fought against the Slayer together. Well, with our friend, Warren. Warren was more in the technology department though. We've been working at merging magic with technology with some interesting results."

Houngan considered. There were few like him who would ever dare to try combining the dark art and modern technology. "I suppose I could try and instruct Jonathan as well. But this Warren really interests me." He turned to mark the arm of another guard before speaking to Andrew again. "And if one of you doesn't work out, I could always use you for a human sacrifice."

They were interrupted when the Bronze Tiger called Houngan over to allow the super-villain known as Chronos, who had just arrived off the elevator, entrance into the Vault.

The Houngan laughed as Andrew mumbled an excuse to go and find a pallet-jack. Andrew felt shivers continue to go up his spine as he considered the dark humor of his new master. Hopefully he was kidding about the human sacrifice.

 **Medical Facilities**

Killer Frost sat slumped on a stool in front of two Bunsen burners turned all the way up so she could absorb the heat from them. Someone had also focused a heat lamp on her from behind. On the level above where the female prisoners had barely escaped with their lives from a massive vampire attack, Louise Lincoln had extended her powers greatly when she'd blocked attacks by Mr. Freeze. To slow down their attackers, she had covered her entire part of the warehouse in ice so it would be harder for them to determine where they had gone down. Also on the level she was now, she had filled several halls and rooms with ice to make it even harder for the vampires. But the massive use of her powers had a price; if she didn't get the heat she needed to recover she would most likely slip into a coma, leaving her entirely vulnerable to the vampires.

Vixen had led the wall, and knew the passcode into the prison's hospital area. Killer Frost had been one of the last to be brought in. Fortunately for Louise, Marlene – the 2nd Marine Marauder – had remembered that she needed to absorb heat in order for her powers to work.

"Here," Marlene said as she plugged something into the wall socket.

Louise eyed the blanket. "Uh, thanks. But blankets aren't really necessary for me."

"It's a heating blanket, Frosty." She snatched the blanket out of Killer Frost's hands, and draped it over the frost-covered woman's shoulders. Then readjusted the heat lamp so that it was focused more on the icy woman's head.

At that Killer Frost nodded. "Right, thanks."

The green-haired woman nodded and was already off to check on something, leaving Louise partially confused. Glancing to her left Louise saw that the young woman that calls herself Tiger Moth was getting help from a redhead called Hazard as they helped the weakened Plastique onto a stretcher. Seeing someone go by out of the corner of her eye, Louise reached out.

"Hey, don't be grabby!" snapped the blonde.

Killer Frost grimaced in annoyance that of all the females currently packed into the medical wing, she had to come up with this loser. Marcie Cooper, who called herself the Harlequin, was an annoying braggart who loved to crow to everyone that she had killed the leader of Infinity, Inc. It didn't help her standing in the prison that most people didn't even know who the leader of that super group was.

"What's the hero doing?" Frost demanded, knowing better than to show any weakness to this wanna-be sociopath.

"Vixen?" The blonde shrugged. "Oh, she took some of the heavy hitters and is setting up some kind of perimeter. She did get on the horn and call up for some support. So supposedly help is on its way. Personably I wouldn't hold your breath. We are so screwed."

The snide way this blonde bimbo was taking everything made Killer Frost was to reach out and suck all the heat out of her body. It would serve her right, too. "Who are the heavy hitters?"

"The ones in the hall? Hmm, the three big one, you know, big red, the tall platinum blonde with the Irish accent, and the woman who turns into a whale."

Louise frowned as she thought. That had to be Knockout, Jeanette and Orca.

"Then that cat-woman who chases after Wonder Woman, and then the one who calls herself Scandal. That a rather brazen name. Makes you wonder what she did to get it, am I right? Anyway, she comes off as a real bitch, but I bet I could take her."

Killer Frost determined that the cat-woman must be the Cheetah, and the fifth was of course… "Scandal Savage is the daughter of Vandal Savage, one of the most dangerous and feared people on the planet. Even Luthor and Ra's Al Ghul guard themselves where he's involved. So I wouldn't take her lightly if I were you. Rumor has it that she's been taught to kill a trained assassin with her bare hands before she was even ten-years-old."

The Harlequin blanched slightly at that bit of news, but before she could respond a room to the morgue slammed open.

A few women cried out as various people repositioned themselves, the weak to the back, and the fighters coming to where the threat was.

A woman known only as Slash came out dragging a man behind her.

Slash was actually a costumed vigilante before she was incarcerated. However, since she stuck to avenging assaulted and abused women, the females in the prison overlooked her heroism antics. She was one of them even if they didn't associate with her. She had their respect.

"What is this?" demanded in her thick Russian accent, while pointing with a bone saw she had appropriated as a weapon.

"Found this one hiding in the morgue," Slash simply stated.

"No! Please! Please! Don't hurt me!" the man cried out as he twisted this way and that to get out of the grip Slash had on him.

The somewhat bulky Rosie the Riveter eyed the man in medical clothing. "Looks like a doctor."

"I am a doctor!" the man quickly volunteered. "I'm-I'm new! I-I just didn't know what to do in all the commotion! There was so much going on! I got cut off from the others where they went to the saferooms! I don't even know where the saferooms are!"

"So you just hid in the morgue," surmised Rosie.

"Yes!" the man practically shouted.

Slash looked down at him with disgust at his cowardice and released him.

The man practically fell into Dr. Cyber who shoved him away and into Jewelee.

"Hey, watch the hands, buddy! I don't know you well enough to play doctor!" Jewelee shrill voice called out to the amusement of the onlookers.

"Sorry! Sorry!" he exclaimed as he backed into a wall.

Tigress, the daughter of the Huntress and the Sportsmaster, stepped forward with a IV pull that she was using as a staff. "Is anyone else here, or are you all alone?"

The doctor glanced around. "I assumed I was all alone. I guess I could have been wrong." Seeing a stool next to him, he quickly scuttled over to it and practically collapsed. "My mother told me not to take this job," he could be heard muttering to himself.

"Ladies," Brains, the leader of the supervillain quartet known as The Gang, addressed the large group of females. "There's a few more rooms of this unit that no one seems to have checked out." She turned to Slash. "Have you checked the rest of the rooms?"

Slash shook her head. "Only a few."

Brains let out a heavy sigh. "Right, then we should have some people check that out."

Slash rolled her eyes and headed for the hallway.

"Not alone!" Brains called out. "No one should go anywhere alone with those things around!"

Beside her, Brains' friend, Ms. Mesmer, shivered. "I don't think I'll ever watch another scary movie again. But you are right, we all need to be paired up, maybe trio-ed even. Or possibly forming quads."

"While you figure that out," Tigress said, giving her IV pole a twirl. "I'll go with Slash to check out the backrooms. Once they are verified as being safe, some of us can move back there so it's not so crowed here. As it is, it'd be difficult to defend ourselves in such close quarters."

Dr. Cyber quickly paired up with Rosie the Riveter, and Queen Bee chose to go with Pistolera, both sets followed Slash and Tigress.

"Ok," Brains called out. "Everyone else find a safety buddy. We need to stick in pairs until this crisis is over," she instructed. Those in the room began looking around at each other speculatively.

"You really think that is going to help?" asked the doctor.

Brains shrugged. "Couldn't hurt. And it will give people something to focus on."

"I suppose you're right," he admitted.

"And who is this?" Vixen, newly arrived, stood in the doorway regarding the doctor on the stool.

"Slash found him in the morgue. He was evidently hiding until Slash found him." Ms. Mesmer turned on the hero. "Say, why didn't you check this place out before setting up a guard?"

"That's what I was going to do now," growled Vixen. "First, I needed to make sure we were safe from outside attack." She glanced over at the doctor. "I don't think we've met."

"He's new," Jewelee said with a roll of her eyes. "Which is why he didn't know the way to the saferoom. Hey, how come you don't have saferooms for us?"

"We do. They are called cells." Vixen ignored Jewelee sticking out her tongue at her and instead focused on the nervous doctor. "So you were in the morgue. Was anyone else in there with you?"

"Just some dead bodies," he said with a shrug.

Brains sucked in some air. "Ah, I don't want to alarm anyone. I mean, it's probably nothing, really, but aren't vampires technically dead bodies that-"

A shout followed immediately by a crashing noise occurred in the back rooms. Vixen started rushing forward when her enhanced senses caught the unmistakable smell of something in the room.

"Vampire!"

She rounded on the doctor, but he hadn't been idle. He shoved Ms. Mesmer and Brains forward into Vixen's path and turned and swooped up Jewelee in a choke hold.

The doctor's face was in full-vamp mode making most of the women fall back in fear at the disfigured features. His teeth were bared near the struggling villainess' throat.

"I won't let you leave here!" Vixen swore.

"You will if you want this one to live!" the scrubs wearing vampire growled.

"I want to live!" shouted Jewelee. "I really want to -urk-!"

Some pressure to her throat ceased her screams for now.

There was another scream as another man appeared at the hall to the backrooms, smashed Harlequin in the back of the head, and tossed her over his shoulder. He was a big man with a protruding stomach. He was a yellow shirt with a large red question mark on it's front and orange pants. His boot, gloves and headgear were all brown and his protective eye gear were tinted green. "Time to go, Crime Doctor. The Baffler says now is the time to take our juice bags and am-skray! Cyber-Cat told the mighty Baffler that she has a way out for us!" Two other vampires, Blackgate inmates by their uniforms, stood on either side of the self-proclaimed Baffler, hissing at the shrieking women.

The Crime Doctor growled. "Stop talking about yourself in the third-person, you nimrod!" Dr. Bradford Thorne hated working with idiots, but had known better than to wander the halls of Belle Reve by himself, even if he was a vampire. But as a doctor, he had known that he could score a lot of easy blood from the blood bags that would have been stored in the medical unit that the hospital was sure to have. So he chose a few vampires that looked like they would be interested in tagging along while the other vampires wore down prison's defenses. Baffler, unfortunately, had overheard and volunteered to come along.

Vixen took her chance and leapt. Thorne had anticipated her action, and had dived to the side with his prize held tightly to him. One of the vampire underlings charged Vixen and managed to tackle her mid-air.

Vixen used the strength of a whale to swat the overeager vampire up into the ceiling where he crashed into the unforgiving concrete with a sick crunching sound that he stuck to for a few seconds before falling with a splat. She flew up like a hummingbird and flew up and around obstacles as she tracked the Crime Doctor and the bizarre Baffler. A laser shot down the hall came with just enough warning for her to twist to the side and out of view of the shooter.

"Come now!" shouted a feminine cybernetic voice.

The Baffler and Crime Doctor heeded the call and hauled their intended victims away.

"Wish I could stay," snarked the Crime Doctor mockingly over his shoulder.

"Yeah!" agreed the Baffler. "But if you ever decide to travel to-"

"Shut your mouth, fool!" growled the Crime Doctor as they hurried down the hall. "You do not leave clues for people to come after you. It never works the way you want, and you aren't smart enough to do it right anyway."

"I am too smart!" shouted the Baffler, "And I learned things for the Cluemaster. We worked together. He's my friend."

The voices were drowned out by more commotion in the back rooms indicating that the women who had gone to search for any indication of vampires had found some.

"We need to help them," snarled Vixen.

"What's this ' _we_ ' stuff?" Tiger Moth was one of the many female convicts that now crowded the far wall of the unit stared at the hero in stark terror. "You're the hero here, you do it!"

"We help our own." The voice informing them came from the main entryway and caught most people off guard. "Or at least we should." Scandal Savage had come back to see what the commotion was. Standing there she concluded that her father was right in at least one thing: most people would always be sheep. Tightly gripping the handles of the two daggers she had earlier appropriated from the Batman villain aptly known as Dagger, she charged forward, easily bypassing any of the female convicts in her way.

Scandal dodged a red beam of destructive light that nearly hit her. A cry from behind her let her know that not everyone back there had been so fortunate. Ahead of her, Vixen had jumped into a doorway for cover only for clawed hands from the room to pull her inside and slam the door.

Scandal left the heroine to whatever her fate would be and ran toward the retreating figures of the Crime Doctor, the Baffler and their two victims.

Baffler let out a cry of pain as his bulky body had lumbered into the way of the laser beam.

"Buffoon!" screeched an electronically masked female voice. "How can I shoot her with you blundering in the way?"

The Crime Doctor, meanwhile, had ducked into the relative safety of the morgue with his prey. Unwilling to allow the Baffler to do the same, Scandal threw one of her knives, catching the Baffler in the back knee with the blade. The Baffler and his hostage, Harlequin, spilled onto the floor before the imposing form of a woman in a mechanized, chrome-like cat suit and a laser weapon pointed toward her.

Scandal had to dive into a side doorway to evade the burning laser-eye of the Cyber-Cat.

"Ah, Scandal Savage," said an eerie voice. "I've heard of you. Your interesting heritage as well as your upbringing lead me to believe you would be a most interesting specimen to study." The ragged scarecrow figure stepped from behind Cyber-Cat. Across his shoulder was the unconscious form of the less than regal Queen Bee – Zazzala. Also, the chest of the Scarecrow showed at least two bullet holes that had evidently been from Pistolera before she's been rendered incapacitated or killed.

"You want to examine me, here I am, straw man!" Scandal retorted.

"Alas, we have no time for that. No doubt your more powerful she-fighters are already coming this way. And with that in mind, we must take our leave."

Almost casually as he was dismissive, the Scarecrow pitched a small canister down the hall. "Here's something to remember me by," he said with a grin. "Come, Cyber-Cat, we shall make use of that egress that you found."

Cyber-Cat reached down to grab a handful of Harlequin's hair as she hauled her away, followed by two other vampires ducked into the morgue.

"Hey, what about me?" The Baffler clawed his way across to the doorframe, and quickly pulled himself after the rest.

Scandal, however, was not able to take advantage of their retreat. Instead, she snapped up a small, plastic trashcan, and chased after the canister that the Scarecrow had tossed down the hall. She managed to land on it just as it came into the main area, covering it with the trashcan.

"Someone get Frost over here now!" she barked her command. "Give me cloth or blankets! Anything that can be used to smother fumes!" Ms. Mesmer and an unknown woman quickly took blankets over to her, stuffing it around the sides of it. Brains had snagged some bottles of water from some of the other women, and used it to douse the blankets to impede gases from getting through it. Even so, some greenish puffs of smoke began to rise from the blankets.

"Don't breathe it in!" Scandal warned the others as she pulled her head as far from the smoke as possible. "It's the Scarecrow's fear-gas!"

A startled cry came from Ms. Mesmer and the other prisoner who had already got a whiff of the airborne toxin. Brains tried to aid her friend, but was shoved violently away. Before the panicked woman could make a break for it, the Russian former hero Sickle took the wind from her with a kick to the gut followed by a sharp right-cross that knocked her out. The other woman managed to make it through the exit and was gone.

The Marine Marauder and another female prisoner quickly brought the weak-kneed Killer Frost over to where Scandal was now holding her breath with one foot on the trashcan. Scandal motioned to Killer Frost and then the trashcan. No one misunderstood her intent.

As Killer Frost raised her hand, Scandal jumped to the side. The trashcan started to jump into the air from the air pressure, but almost instantly it and the escaping toxins were encased in a miniature glacier mushroom. Brains, anticipating the need, had brought over a lit torch and set it next to Killer Frost who moved abnormally close to the flame.

"Is this some new sport I haven't heard of?" The red-headed Apokolips fugitive seven-foot-tall female just stood there grinning in amusement.

Scandal glanced back at her girlfriend. "About time you got here."

Knockout chuckled despite their situation. "It sounded like you were having a lot more fun than the rest of us waiting out in the halls. What happened?"

Scandal was already heading toward the morgue. "I'll explain later. We have at least six vampires inside, three hostages. They have a laser weapon and fear gas toxin that we know of."

Vixen stepped out of her doorway covered in dust and a few scratches. "Knockout, you're pretty much invulnerable, right?"

Knockout smirked as proceeded for the morgue door. "Pretty much."

The former Female Fury kicked in the morgue door sending it flying into the room. The inside of the room was nearly empty. Nearly that is except for the bottom half of the Baffler who was struggling to pull his large girth into the ventilation shaft in the ceiling.

"Oh, hell no!"

Knockout walked over and grabbed a hold of the Baffler by the leg, yanking so hard that he flew out of the vent, and pulled the frame with him. Frustrated that the other vampires had chosen to run away, Knockout began to use the Baffler to bash in the entrance of the ventilation shaft as if it would knock a few of the vampires down to her. Unfortunately, on her ninth strike against the shaft, the battered Baffler was so damaged that he turned to ash.

"I would have liked to have questioned him," Vixen grumbled.

Growling, Knockout kicked over several of the empty gurneys. "Maybe next time," she spat.

Scandal held her hand up to stall any arguments from Vixen. Vixen, however, had spotted someone else limping down the hall.

"Slash? Are you ok?"

The vigilante nodded. "Tigress and I got jumped. I got the wind knocked out of me, but fortunately Tigress was more than up to holding her own. Once she dusted our two ' _friendly fiends_ ', we found Pistolera knocked out. No sign of Queen Bee. Dr. Cyber and Rosie were engaged with three Blackgate inmates; we were able to turn the tide and dusted them, also. Tigress is tending to their injuries now, so I came to make sure there were no other surprises."

Vixen nodded. She was definitely going to bring up Slash to Waller as a potential recruit for the Suicide Squad if they lived through this. As it was, she had a decision to make. Do they barricade themselves inside the medical facilities even more knowing that the vampires know exactly where they are, or do they try to meet Flyod's team halfway? Either way had pitfalls that could easily wipe them out.

 **GLOSSARY**

 **Ace of Spades –** The Ace android is used by the Royal Flush Gang as their muscle.

 **Afterthought –** A criminal who was the subject to an experiment that created a quantum window to the immediate future in his mind in which he can use as he fights.

 **Amazo –** Amazo is a robotic enemy of the Justice League of America, a deadly android designed by the mad scientist Professor Ivo. He has the ability to duplicate the powers of every member of the League, making him one of their most dangerous villains. Although he was originally a mindless robot with a single directive, his ability to adapt to any situation has allowed him to achieve sentience in his constant efforts to upgrade himself. The limits of his powers have never been completely explored, but he has been able to duplicate the powers of dozens of superheroes at a time, making him potentially unstoppable.

 **Angle Man / Bend, Angelo –** An unsuccessful criminal who became obsessed with crimes with unbeatable "angles", he plagued Wonder Woman with a series of increasingly clever schemes that involved "angles." He began wearing a yellow and green costume and wielding the Angler, a Penrose triangle which could warp time and space in a variety of ways.

 **Arsenal I** **/ Galtry, Nicholas** – Nicholas was the legal guardian of Garfield Logan (Beast Boy / Changeling) following the death of Logan's parents. An unscrupulous man, Galtry sought to acquire Logan's inheritance, and donned the armor of Arsenal in order to bring his plans to fruition.

 **Baffler / Czonka, Titus –** A former jackhammer operator, he turned to crime because he was sick of being an average joe. Not being very bright, he began to work for some C-list villains, mostly the Cluemaster. When the Cluemaster was seemingly cured of leaving clues for Batman and the cops, Baffler decided it was his time to create his criminal persona of the Baffler.

 **Baron Bug / Bug Baron** – Working at a laboratory in a cavern outside of Zenith City, Baron Bug is obsessed with punishing humankind for the way he'd been "scorned and ridiculed because of my... appearance." After years of research, he develops his bug control unit and sends giant insects forth to rob so he can continue his costly experiments. His bug slaves include an "ant army", "mosquito air force" and "bee raiders".

 **Baron Gestapo / Belzig, Otto von** – An evil Nazi scientist and a member of the Fourth Reich. He uses a power suit that simulates super-strength and super-speed. He also uses several gadgets.

 **Beard Hunter / Ernest Franklin –** Franklin's hatred for beards emerged in that moment when he have known that he can't grow his own because of male hormone deficiency (or something like that). His war against beards began from killing his stepfather, then he continued to kill all the bearded men he met. Some time later he was hired by "The Bearded Gentlemen's Club of Metropolis" to kill Niles Caulder, who offended the club by claiming that all of them are lunatics, and bring his beard to them. Frank accepted their offer without hesitating and went to supermarket where Niles was buying chocolate. Despite of crippled legs, Niles managed to electrocute Frank by making him step onto camouflaged electrized aluminum foil. Franklin thought he'd died, but later woke up on his way to jail. - _In the comics, Franklin died and the next people he saw were the saints from heaven who all had beards. I thought I'd make that a delusion, and have him end up in Belle Reve instead._

 **Black Manta / David** – A notorious pirate and assassin, Black Manta is one of the most ruthless and feared super villains on Earth, and Aquaman's mortal enemy. Black Manta is also one of the world's best assassins, and is accounted one of the deadliest and most highly-disciplined killers alive. He wears a distinctive manta-shaped helmet with two large eyes that allow for infrared and scope vision, as well as powerful optic blasts capable of hurting or killing metahumans. His helmet connects to an oxygen system that allows him to breathe underwater indefinitely. It also protects his head from trauma. Black Manta wears a diving suit that enables him to survive underwater to unknown depths; it insulates him against the cold and protects him from pressure changes. It is completely waterproof and bulletproof, and is so completely sealed that it cannot be entered even at the atomic level. It also grants him a level of superhuman strength and durability, allowing him to survive major traumatic injuries. It greatly increases his underwater mobility, primarily through the use of some sort of diver propulsion vehicle, and allows him to leap great heights when shooting out of water.

 **Blade Master** – A freelance assassin who is also a Dial H For Hero villain. A master of swords.

 **Bloodletter** – A gang member with connections to El Diablo, his skin is blood red with tentacles coming out of the back of his head. He's immune to fire, invulnerable and somewhat super-strong.

 **Bolt / Larry Bolatinsky –** A former special effects artist turned assassin and criminal for-hire after designing a suit that gave him the ability to fly, fire electric blasts and teleport.

 **Brain, The –** The Brain is the nemesis of The Chief, and because of the latter has been left as a brain contained in a jar, and protected by his creation, Monsieur Mallah.

 **Brains –** A statuesque blonde woman who was the mastermind of the criminal organization the Gang.

 **Bronze Tiger / Turner, Benjamin '** ** _Ben_** **'** – One of the world's greatest martial artists. He was later brainwashed by the League of Assassins. Later, after he had been deprogramed by Amanda Waller, he willingly joined her Suicide Squad.

 **Brotherhood of Evil –** A team of supervillains, who work to defeat both the Doom Patrol (especially The Chief) and the Teen Titans. At first it was believed their goal to be world domination, but it's true purpose was to destroy The Chief. Members include The Brain, Monsieur Mallah, Plasmus, Houngan, Phobia and Warp.

 **Bug-Eyed Bandit** / Larvan, Bertram – He invented an army of mechanical insects and spiders to do his bidding as the Bug-Eyed Bandit. He often fought the Atom II.

 **Cannon / Cannon, Henry –** Living in New York City, he was employed as an assassin and fought Vigilante II. At some point, he met and formed a romantic relationship with fellow assassin Marschall Saber, who worked for a rival crime family. However, he is extremely skilled in the use of knives and blades. He is also a skilled martial artist.

 **Captain Nazi / Krieger, Albrecht –** At the beginning of WWII, Krieger's scientist father genetically altered him to be the 'perfect specimen' to fight for Axis Germany. However, at the downfall of Germany, Krieger had himself placed in suspended animation in order to emerge in modern society and revive the Third Reich. There he met and fought Captain Marvel and so on. He is invulnerable, super strong, has super speed and enhanced senses, as well as the ability to fly.

 **Captain Swastika** – A sword wielding member of the Fourth Reich.

 **Cheetah / Minerva, Barbara** **–** She obtained the power of the Cheetah. She had superhuman strength, agility, and speed.

 **Chronos the Time Thief / Clinton, David –** He started as a petty thief who attributed his consistent incarcerations to his timing. To protect himself, he began studying the rhythm of time pieces. Eventually he made a costume and developed a series of gimmick weapons and death traps based off of time pieces. He mainly fought against the Atom II, and soon befriends several other super-villains.

 **Count Berlin** – A bald, pointy eared vampire Nazi that is a member of the Fourth Reich.

 **Craemer, Father Richard –** The priest that had been stationed at Belle Reve.

 **Crime Doctor / Thorne, Bradford -** The Crime Doctor is a medical expert who caters exclusively to criminals, originally an enemy of Batman. Bradford Thorne began his career setting up an illegal clinic for injured gangsters, although he later expanded his enterprise to become a super-villain specializing in torture. His brother is crimelord Rupert Thorne.

 **Crowbar / Tandy, Malcolm –** Tandy was part of a Detroit gang when the Overmaster infused his namesake weapon with incredible energy and drafted him into his first Cadre.

 **Crumbler / Tuttle, Alexander –** He was a bright student and had a particular talent towards science. His father was a polar opposite who solely was interested in making money and threatened his son about "wasting his time" with scientific endeavors. The younger Tuttle used his father's company's fund for a project to develop a glove that operated from the energy on his central nervous system. His mechanical glove could cancel out that binding element of atoms causing things to dissolve. He had faced Green Lantern Hal Jordan, and Green Arrow with the help of Professor Ojo.

 **Cutlass Charlie** – A modern day sea pirate.

 **Cyber-Cat / Chiles, Christina** – Christina had been working on a cyber battle suit modeled after a cat and decided to test it against Catwoman, who had broken into the lab in which Christina worked. Despite the power the suit gave her, Christina (now Cyber-Cat) was beaten by Catwoman. Infuriated at her loss, Cyber-Cat began a personal vendetta against Catwoman. As Catwoman managed to elude her Cyber-Cat became more and more fixated on tracking her down. Cyber-Cat's armor gave her superhuman strength and durability, as well as very long retractable claws, and a cybernetic tail that could strike enemies behind her. She also sported a cutting laser in her helmet and missile launchers in the armor forearms.

 **Deadshot / Lawton, Floyd –** Deadshot is one of the world's finest assassins, well-known for his expert shot Marksmanship, and near perfect track record. He's only missed once while trying to shoot Batman. He has been psychoanalyzed to have a death wish, but wants to go out in a bang of glory.

 **Doctor Caligan** – A mad genetics scientist who experimented on teenagers.

 **Doctor Cyber / Cyber, Cylvia** **–** A brilliant vengeful scientist whose beauty was destroyed, she now wears a power suit that gives her superhuman attributes and employs many powerful high-tech weaponry. She is considered one of Wonder Woman's deadliest foes.

 **Doctor Cyclops –** An actual mad scientist cyclops that is human sized who fought H-Dial user Robby Reed.

 **Doctor Spectro / Emery, Tom** – "Doctor Spectro" was the creation of General Wade Eiling to act as a fake supervillain whose exploits were used to provide a cover story for the Captain Atom project. Once Captain Atom went missing, Doctor Spectro reverted to the life of a small-time super-crook. He has various light-based equipment with various affects.

 **Drusilla –** She was the love of Spike the vampire for several hundred years, and was also Spike's sire. Before she had been turned into a vampire, she had been tormented emotionally and psychologically until she was driven insane by Angelus who was interested in her ability to see the future.

 **Duke of Oil / Dukeston, Earl** **–** The Duke of Oil is an oil tycoon and robotic super-villain. His outward appearance is that of a loud obnoxious good ol' boy who dresses like a cowboy. Underneath his human exterior is a complicated mechanical body that can interface with machines and extend to great lengths

 **Ebon / Evans, Ivan –** Evans was a juvenile delinquent and gang banger from Dakota. He was affected by the Quantum Vapor, gaining a silhouette appearance and shadow-based powers. He can become a mass of living shadow, with the ability to manipulate shadows. He can glide along walls, slip under doors and through cracks. He can travel from one shadow to another, as well as absorb other people or objects, carrying them with him. Ebon can shape-shift his physical body, capable of shaping himself anyway he wants. Ebon also has the ability to teleport, open portals, and even warp to anywhere of his choice. Ebon's primary weakness was intense, bright light. He's an arch-enemy of Static.

 **Economos, John –** The warden of Belle Reve, the prison that doubles as the secret headquarters of the Suicide Squad.

 **Fortune, Professor Amos –** Fortune is obsessed with luck and created the Royal Flush Gang to bring about his criminal endeavors.

 **General Immortus** – An immortal super-villain and an enemy to the Doom Patrol. Because of his longevity, he is an expert strategist and a brilliant scientific mind having picked up a lot throughout history. His powers stem from high levels of skill in alchemy, and he also has great experience with the occult. In addition to world domination, he is usually motivated by attempts to further extend his life and restore his youth. He has been a member of the Brotherhood of Evil.

 **Gunshot –** Gunshot wears an armored battlesuit bristling with weapons, which enhances his natural marksmanship.

 **Hammer / Ulyanov, Boris** **–** He is a former Soviet hero and once a member of the People's Heroes, and wields a powerful hammer. He is also married to one of his teammates, Sickle.

 **Hardhat** – A former heavyweight boxing palooka from New York City. His powered helmet and harness made him into a human juggernaut.

 **Harlequin III / Marcie Cooper –** As a youth, Marcie Cooper was recruited by the Grandmaster to join the Manhunters. The Manhunters gave her a job working at KGLX radio in Gotham City, alongside Molly Mayne-Scott, who was a former agent called Harlequin. Marcie began dating Northwind, and later Obsidian, both of Infinity, Inc., and infiltrated the super team from within. When the Manhunters began to strike at Earth, Marcie stole Molly's illusion-casting spectacles, taking the identity of Harlequin. She managed to kill Skyman and frame Mr. Bones for it.

 **Hazard / Sharpe, Rebecca –** The granddaughter of the villain, the Gambler. She was horrified after her grandfather lost his fortune gambling and killed himself. To avenge him, she became a supervillain herself. She has psionic powers that she uses in conjunction with special die to influence probability as she wishes.

 **Hellgrammite / Rose, Roderick –** An entomologist named Roderick Rose, the Hellgrammite subjects himself to a mutagenic process that transforms him into a grasshopper-like insectoid. He possesses superhuman strength and leaping abilities, the power to secrete adhesives and weave transformative or imprisoning cocoons, and a durable exoskeleton. A number of his schemes revolve around transforming others into weaker, subordinate versions of himself. Hellgrammite is capable of super-strength, improved jumping and producing cocoons to imprison his foes or transform them into drone versions of himself.

 **H.I.V.E. (the** **H** **ierarchy of** **I** **nternational** **V** **engeance and** **E** **xtermination) –** A group of criminal scientists dedicated to striking out against their enemies. Their foot soldiers were promised immortality for their allegiance.

 **Holocaust –** Holocaust is an ex-member of the original Blood Syndicate. He later became a major crime boss in Dakota. His main superhuman ability is his pyrokinetic powers. He has shown to be able to project fire from his body, and has even shown the ability to conjure up fire out of thin air, as well as cause things to explode with a thought. He also possesses superhuman strength and durability at an undefined level.

 **Houngan / Droo, Jean-Louis –** Jean-Louis Droo, Haitian born but schooled in America, and worked as a computer scientist. Returning home for a family emergency, he found that modern medicine was unable to help his father, but that voodoo cured him. Soon, Droo became a voodoo fanatic, mastering the craft and then merging it with modern computer science, using an electro needle stylus and a computerized voodoo doll.

 **Human Flea / Kemp, Martin –** Martin Kemp created the Human Flea in an attempt to save his grandad's ailing flea circus, Smallest Show On Earth Flea Circus East 89th St. His petty crime wave caught the attention of Batman, whom he escaped from in their first encounter.

 **Human Flying Fish / Bragg, Vic** – Vic Bragg was a swimming champion before turning to crime, before he fell in with Dr. Krill, the brilliant medical doctor and marine biologist. Dr. Krill had been studying Aquaman's powers and crime-fighting methods, and had hypothesized that the only way for a person to commit crimes on the sea is if one could escape into the air afterwards, where Aquaman would not be able to follow. So, Dr. Krill surgically altered Bragg making him not only just amphibious, but able to take to the air for short periods of time with the aid of a special costume. It can also discharge an electrical charge.

 **I.Q. / Quimby, Ira –** He dubbed I.Q. by his gang because of the initials of his name and the bizarre crimes he committed. He eventual discovers an alien stone was somehow responsible for giving his super-intelligence. Later he was somehow able to make it so that his super-intelligence would come into play when he was exposed to sunlight. He was mainly a foe of Hawkman and Hawkwoman in Midway City.

 **Ibac / Printwhistle, Stanley 'Stinky'** **–** Ibac's alter-ego is Stanley "Stinky" Printwhistle, a crook who attempted to blow up a bridge, but was caught in the explosion. He is saved by Lucifer, who offers Printwhistle the chance to become a champion of evil in exchange for his mortal soul. Printwhistle accepts, and is told to speak the magic word "IBAC". By doing so, the frail, grey-haired criminal transforms into Ibac, a brutal muscleman with a buzz cut. Saying "IBAC" again transforms Ibac back into Printwhistle. Because he hasn't been able to defeat Captain Marvel, Printwhistle has not been obliged to give his soul to the devil, and has reformed, but being weak-willed, he has often been forced by other criminals into becoming the evil Ibac again. His name is an abbreviation for the evil men that empower him. I is for the Terror of Ivan the Terrible who gives him superhuman stamina. B is for the Cunning of Cesare Borgia who provides him with superhuman durability. A is for the Fierceness of Attila the Hun from where he gets his superhuman strength. C is for the Cruelty of Caligula that gives him superhuman endurance.

 **Icicle II / Mankent, Cameron –** Son of the first Icicle. He somehow inherited his freezing powers from his father's prolonged exposure to his cold-ray gun. He turned to crime in revenge against the Justice Society of America.

 **Iron Cross –** A member of the Aryan Brigade, and is super strong.

 **Jackhammer** – A former oil rig worker from Houston. He carried a larger, more powerful version of a jackhammer capable of untold destruction.

 **Javelin –** The man who would become the Javelin was an Olympic athlete, who for unknown reasons became a criminal. Using his talent, he has created an unusual arsenal of weapons based on spears.

 **Jeannette –** An immortal banshee, having lived without aging for centuries and endured great physical trauma without any long-term harm. She has also shown to be a lot stronger and faster than a human being. Transforming into her banshee form, the scream she released causes those who hear it to experience all the horrors of her traumatic death.

 **Jewelee –** A puppeteer along with her husband Punch, they discovered a strange, antique chest that floated onto the beach. Inside, were several alien devices: flying boots, sting string, hypno gems, and other items. They used the alien technology to take on a life of crime.

 **Killer Frost II / Lincoln, Louise –** A friend of the original Killer Frost, who assumed the murderous identity following the original's death in order to avenge her death against Firestorm. She is able to absorb heat and transmute it to extreme cold temperatures, which manifests in the generation of ice structures of various sizes and freezing gusts of wind. She can use this power to create ice surfaces upon which she may slide, and also to create weaponry or defensive structures. She can also reduce the temperature of a person's body until they freeze to death. She is also an intelligent and skilled scientist.

 **Killer Shark II** – Grandson of the original Killer Shark during WWII. Mostly uses fancy gadgets and works in subs and boats.

 **King Shark / Nanaue –** King Shark is a super-villain and humanoid shark. His father is Chondrakha the God of all Sharks, and his mother is a human woman. For years he acted as a serial killer in Hawaii before his presence was discovered by Superboy, King Shark's augmented flesh provides protection against the pressures of the deep and physical attacks. His shark-like physiology includes teeth and claws, which are used as weapons, and gills that allow him to breathe underwater. He can swim at great speeds and is resistant to cold. King Shark has enhanced strength and endurance, and he can also regenerate lost bodily tissue.

 **Knockout –** Knockout was a former Female Fury from Apokolips. As such she possesses the strength and ferocity of those hazed through the fires of her world.

 **Levinson, Jonathan –** Jonathan was born and raised in Sunnydale, CA. He attended Sunnydale High School, where he was often bullied, ridiculed, and ignored by his more popular peers, and had low self-esteem. After trying to kill himself, he is put in counseling and meets another patient who introduces him to magic, which Jonathan seems to have some skills with. In a moment of boredom, he joins Warren Mears and Andrew Wells in becoming super-villains and form the Trio as they attempt to take over Sunnydale. – _Here's where I alternate things, and have the Trio flee Sunnydale once they realize they couldn't beat Buffy. By going out into the world, they hoped to gain experience as super-villains. Sadly, after a large crime spree, they were arrested and sent to Belle Reve._

 **Lord Havok** **–** A robot based off the original Lord Havok from another Earth-like world called Angor. He is built with hi-tech weaponry.

 **Mad Dog –** Mad Dog is an unnamed man that works as bounty hunter, wears a hockey mask and has some high-tech equipment.

 **Madman –** Looking to make money, Farley Fleeter transformed his gang into a group of supervillains. The gang donned wigs, face paint, and multicolored costumes and started robbing banks. This brought them to the attention of Blue Beetle. Later, taking a job at Georgetown University to steal drugs, he was involved in an accident that gave him the power to mentally control anyone he touched. He used this power to create an army of Madmen, but was defeated in a confrontation with Hawk and Dove and sent to Belle Reve prison.

 **Madmen –** Looking to make money, Farley Fleeter transformed his gang into a group of supervillains. The gang donned wigs, face paint, and multicolored costumes and started robbing banks. This brought them to the attention of Blue Beetle.

 **Mallah, Monsieur –** Gorilla apprentice and creation of the Brain whose I.Q. had been raised to the genius-level of 178.

 **Mammoth / Flinders, Baran** – He and his sister, Shimmer, are Australian, and discovered their powers as children. They soon took to a life of crime, later became a founding member of the Fearsome Five. He is very large and muscular with super strength, and a low intelligence.

 **Manhunters** **–** Three billion years ago, the Manhunters were the first attempt of the Guardians of the Universe to implant a security force across the Universe. These androids, who lacked emotion and empathy, were sent throughout the universe to police all worlds where sentient life was to be found. The Guardians would come to realize that this was a mistake. The Manhunters rebelled and would end up traveling the universe and manipulating sentient life forms toward discrediting the Green Lanterns.

 **Manticore III –** A member of the terrorist organization known as Jihad. The tall blond man was surgically altered so that he had an exo-skeleton built onto his body that made his stronger and more protected. He can shoot claws out of his hands and fire grenades from his tail.

 **Marine Marauder II / Simmonds, Marlene –** Dr. Simmonds is a marine biologist who used her knowledge to go into piracy on the high seas. She is able to telepathically control many types of marine life. Her costume gave her the ability to breathe underwater with a facemask, as well as giving her increased strength and protecting her from the pressures of the ocean. Her suit also lets her fly and shoot beams of energy from her goggles.

 **Mears, Warren –** Warren is a technological genius who built his own humanoid robot girlfriend, and later a copy of Buffy Summers for the vampire Spike. He became friends with Jonathan Levinson and Andrew Wells and together formed the Trio, in their plot to become super-villains who would kill the Slayer and take over Sunnydale. – _Here's where I alternate things, and have the Trio flee Sunnydale once they realize they couldn't beat Buffy. By going out into the world, they hoped to gain experience as super-villains. Warren hopes to one day be able to go back to Sunnydale and defeat Buffy. Sadly, after a large crime spree, they were arrested and sent to Belle Reve._

 **The Mighty Bruce** – A small-time criminal who once shared a cell with Major Disaster. Major Disaster decided to take along Bruce on his criminal escapades and formed the Injustice Gang II. Bruce soon was selected as the group's techie. Later, the group decided to be heroes and were designated as Justice League Antarctica. When that went bust, they returned to crime.

 **Mister Freeze / Fries, Victor** – A super-villain enemy of Batman who fights using cold-themed weapons. Formerly a scientist working in cryogenics, he had dedicated his life to finding a cure for his wife Nora Fries' terminal illness. Following a horrible lab accident, he became dependent on sub-zero temperatures to survive and began using his experimental inventions to commit crimes in efforts to fund his research. This also requires an exo-skeleton that keeps him constantly freezing. Losing touch with humanity over time, he eventually turns into a colder and more sadistic psychopath.

 **Ms. Mesmer –** A member of the Gang who gained hypnotic abilities.

 **Murphy, J. Daniel '** ** _Murph_** **'** **–** Chain-smoking head of the prison guards at Belle Reve.

 **Number 1 / Pemberton Arthur** **–** Arthur Pemberton is the nephew of Sylvester Pemberton, the original Star-Spangled Kid. He was the leader of the Strike Force, a criminal paramilitary group, which he financed with the Pemberton fortune until he was defeated by his uncle and his associates in the Justice Society of America. Years later, Arthur and the Strike Force returned to challenge the JSA All-Stars.

 **Orca / Balin, Grace –** A marine biologist who used orca spinal cord tissue to turn herself into a human / whale hybrid.

 **Outlaw / Martin, John Henry** – He grew up poor and served in reform school and jail, once for armed robbery. Then he was framed for murder and jailed when the Dominator Gene Bomb exploded and activated his meta-gene. He discovered he had super-strength and partial invulnerability. He used his new abilities to escape to try and clear his name.

 **Pistolera / Gunbunny –** Once she was the partner of the assassin Gunhawk. She later changed her name and adopted a Western-themed cowgirl outfit.

 **Plasmus / Von Furth, Otto –** He was a mine worker in East Berlin, Germany, where he was caught in a cave-in which left him trapped with lethal levels of radiation. Having miraculously survived, he was soon kidnapped by an ex-Nazi known as General Zahl. Zahl experimented on Von Furth's body causing him to mutate into unstable protoplasm. Now his barely formed body can cause a fiery death and cause living creatures to be reduced to burning protoplasm.

 **Plastique** **/ Souci, Bette Sans** – An explosive super-villain, originally seen as an enemy to Firestorm. Beginning her career as a French-Canadian terrorist, she eventually reformed and became a mercenary.

 **Professor Ivo / Ives, Anthony** – Ivo first appeared menacing the JLA through his creation, Amazo. He used the android to steal various creatures to produce an immortality elixir. Upon taking the elixir, his body became deformed which unhinged his mind, but he was now immortal. He has since relinquished the immortality serum so he can finally die but claims he cannot unless someone takes his place among the 13 immortals who walk the planet.

 **Professor Killgrave / Killgrave, Thaddeus –** A short, rogue scientific genius who produced technological devices to fight Superman or even sell to other villains.

 **Punch / Phillips, Clyde –** Clyde Phillips is one half of the married criminal duo known as Punch and Jewelee. The pair are considered a joke, as most people don't take them too seriously, which they soon regret. The two young lovers worked as puppeteers at Coney Island by day, and as thieves by night. Their lives stayed mostly the same until Clyde Phillips found a container filled with alien weaponry, which they both quickly mastered. As Clyde and his wife had always been puppeteers, they decided to adapt the characters of Punch and Judy to themselves. Punch used anti-gravity boots that let him walk on air, as well as hypno-gems to hypnotize people and sting string that allowed him to control other people.

 **Queen Bee / Zazzala –** The queen of the planet Korll, she created an army of bee-men to loot worlds as she sought a way to immortality.

 **Red Dart II / Anthony –** Anthony bought the rights to the name Red Dart from the original Red Dart along with his trick darts.

 **Rosie the Riveter –** Rosie is a former, no-nonsense bar owner who leads a team of mercenaries called the Demolition Team. She used a modified gun that fires red hot rivets as her weapon.

 **Saber / Saber, Marschall –** Living in New York City, he was employed as an assassin and fought against Vigilante II. At some point, he met and formed a romantic relationship with fellow assassin Henry Cannon, who worked for a rival crime boss. He is a gifted marksman who is skilled with all manner of firearms.

 **Scandal / Savage, Scandal –** The daughter of the immortal Vandal Savage, Scandal refuses to live under her father's shadow. She's a skilled fighter, and wields a pair of gauntlets that carry her Lamentation Blades that seem able to slice through most materials. She also has inherited her father's regenerative abilities, and is able to heal soon without injury.

 **Scarecrow / Crane, Jonathan –** A brilliant psychologist turned super-villain who fights Batman in Gotham City, specializing in techniques and chemicals that manipulate fear. Jonathan Crane was originally a well-respected professor, although he lost credibility when he obsessively took his experiments too far and descended into madness.

 **Scoopshovel** – A former professional jai-alai player from San Diego. His hydraulic power-arm allowed him to dig up almost anything.

 **Shimmer / Flinders, Selinda –** She and her brother, Mammoth, are Australian, and discovered their powers as children. They soon took to a life of crime, later became a founding member of the Fearsome Five. She can transmute things that are a few feet from her into other things for up to three minutes before they turn back.

 **Sickle / Ulyanov, Natasha –** She was a Soviet hero and a member of the People's Heroes, and wields a powerful sickle. She is also married to one of his teammates, Hammer.

 **Sivana, Jr., Thaddeus** **–** The son of super-villain Doctor Sivana. This has made him an enemy to Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family. Like his father and his sister Georgia Sivana, he is an evil scientist.

 **Slash** – She is a vigilante who takes assignments from abused women against their assailants. She has crossed passes with Batgirl and Richard Dragon.

 **Slingshot / Drayson, David –** Enemy of the Green Arrow who uses slingshots as his weapon of choice, some of which were modified.

 **Spider / Ludlow-Dalt, Lucas –** The Alias the Spider's son, Lucas Ludlow-Dalt, took up the bow and arrow (and his original yellow and blue costume) to help several other villains lay siege to the Star City with the forces of darkness. This Spider had trained all his life for revenge on the Shade, and came very close to getting it.

 **Spike / Pratt, William / '** ** _William the Bloody_** **'** – An infamous vampire, Spike began to help Buffy in battle once he could no longer harm humans thanks to a microchip the Initiative put in his head.

 **Sportsmaster II / Gover, Victor** – A former football player with a Metahuman gene that gave him photographic reflexes which he used to turn to a life of crime.

 **Steamroller** – A former motorcycle stunt rider from Chicago. He rode a compact version of a steamroller that could flatten buildings.

 **Super Duper –** A robot that has the abilities of Wonder Woman, Hal Jordan, Hawkman, Flash and Batman. A small-time career criminal named Joe Parry stole a machine called the Panacomputer that creates an android with the abilities of Wonder Woman, Hal Jordan, Hawkman, Flash and Batman. The android does the bidding of Joe Parry until the Justice League can come up with a plan to defeat this cheap version of Amazo. In appearance, it has the chest and belt of Batman, the legs of the Flash, Hawkman's wings, Green Lantern's arms and power ring, and Wonder Woman's head and magic lasso.

 **Swastika –** A member of the Fourth Reich, he has a full body swastika tattoo, and uses a barbed wire spooled around his arm as a weapon.

 **Tiger Moth –** Tiger Moth's costume has technology that disorients foes that make them unable to hit her directly.

 **Tigress II / Crock, Artemis –** Artemis Crock is the daughter of Paula Brooks - The First Tigress - and Lawrence Crock a.k.a. Sportsmaster. She was taught her skills by both of her parents so she could continue their legacy. Tigress' strength, agility, speed, and stamina are within peak human levels. She has exceptional hunting skills and has an enhanced sense of smell that allows her to track individuals. Tigress is highly proficient in several hand-to-hand combat techniques. Her arsenal includes a compact crossbow and a quiver of arrows, knives, nets, and bolas.

 **Trident –** A black man who at first worked with three others all taking turns as the Trident. Later, he became an agent of H.I.V.E. and is an enemy of the Teen Titans. His weapon is a mechanical trident. One prong shoots fire, another shoots ice, and the third

 **Vixen / McCabe, Mari Jiwe –** She can channel the abilities of virtually any creature in the animal kingdom through a magic totem. She started as a solo hero, but later joined the JLA, and later the Suicide Squad.

 **Waller, Amanda '** ** _The Wall_** **'** – She's a hardline top-ranking U.S. Government agent involved in clandestine operations. Despite her non-threatening physical appearance, she is almost universally feared as one of the most ruthless women in espionage and politics. She created and runs the Suicide Squad, and has had a hand in the development of several other government organized groups.

 **Warp / LaSalle, Emil** – A French super-villain. In addition to his ability to fly, Warp can open a Warp or a hole in space between any two locations with which he can teleport himself and others across great distances instantly. However, repeated use of his powers leads quickly to fatigue.

 **Wells, Andrew –** Andrew grew up in Sunnydale, CA with his aunt who was his legal guardian. Being subjected to the many bullies of Sunnydale High, he followed in the footsteps of his older brother Tucker in the art of demon summoning, sending a pack of flying monkey demons to attack the school's play. Despite his interest in the occult, Andrew was a super-nerd who loved, movies, comic books and Dungeons & Dragons. The idea of becoming a super-villain appealed to him when Warren Mears presented the idea to him and Jonathan Levinson, so they formed their own super-villain group called the Trio. – _Here's where I alternate things, and have the Trio flee Sunnydale once they realize they couldn't beat Buffy. By going out into the world, they hoped to gain experience as super-villains. Sadly, after a large crime spree, they were arrested and sent to Belle Reve._

 **Yo-Yo / Chang Jie-Ru** – Chang Jie-Ru has the ability to alter his body's mass and thickness with limited abilities into elongating and shrinking himself.


End file.
